Deception
by PunishmentFactor
Summary: The grudge between Alvida and Coby is well known, but would one even recognize the other if they met? They meet on a small island, neither of them realizing who the other truly is, until one of them finally discovers the other. Rated for later chapters.
1. The Encounter

**Finally! I have had this story in the works for several months now and I am very pleased that I can now present it to you. I apologize for the considerable length of time since my last stories. **

**This story relies heavily on a theme of Shakespeare and Shakespearean quotes, so I have occasionally added footnotes in order to explain certain plays here and there. This story is **_**very**_** loosely based off the play **_**Twelfth Night**_** (a romance of mistaken identities) so if you feel like brushing up your Shakespeare in order to enjoy this story even more, I will give you bonus points for reading it! (But you don't have to.)**

**Alvida and Coby. You're probably thinking "What the hell is wrong with this author?" I ask you not to be turned away by my odd choice of characters. Just be open to my different ideas and perspectives. **

**And lastly, I would like to advise that the rating will go up in later chapters. I also cannot promise regular updates. Though the story is complete and ready for posting, I cannot promise I will be able to update on a regular schedule, but I will try. **

**And yeah, yeah…I don't own One Piece. Enjoy! **

* * *

_"Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy…  
_'_Tis with him in standing water, between boy and man."  
-Twelfth Night, Act 1 Scene 5._

The woman was sitting at the bar of a tavern, staring into her glass and surveying her reflection in the amber pool of liquor. Amused at her distorted features, twisted out of shape by the liquid, she laughed a little and took a sip of the drink. She stared around the bar, realizing with surprise she was practically the only one left. She ran her hand absentmindedly across the once finely polished wood of the top of the bar. People had carved their initials into the wood, and various obscene drawings and phrases. Bored, she began etching the shape of a heart into the wood's surface with edge of a finely manicured fingernail.

A little bell tinkled behind her, announcing the arrival of another patron. The woman turned from the bar to view the newcomer.

He was a young-ish looking boy, probably in his mid to late teens, but the way he carried and presented himself gave him an air of maturity beyond his years. His features were attractive, to say the very least, disturbed only by a jagged scar crossing his forehead. His hair was an unnatural color, mid-length and flipped around the edges.

"_Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy."_ she though, recalling the line from one of her favorite plays. But the crisp blue and white uniform and scarf announced his position instantly. He was obviously a Marine.

And she was of course, a pirate.

That rather complicated things.

Her senses told her to automatically be on her guard, and she quickly stashed the pistol at her waist out of sight. But there was something rather intriguing about the boy. Something, almost familiar. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, (perhaps it had something to do with the amount of alcohol she had consumed in the past fifteen minutes) but somehow she found herself rather interested by him.

* * *

_"I saw her coral lips to move, and with her breath she did perfume the air.  
Sacred and sweet was all I saw in her."  
-Taming of the Shrew, Act 1 Scene 1. _

The boy trudged down the murky path having spotted the tavern. The ship was docked and set to sail as soon as the log pose was set.

Which would be in three weeks.

"_Three weeks!"_ the boy thought in agitation. He would surely die of boredom on this miniscule little island for that long! He wondered how such a tiny island so out of the way in the Grand Line could take so long for a long pose to set.

But still, he couldn't be totally unhappy, after just seeing one of his best friends again after so long! It had been such an amazing reunion, though short. That friend had been the one who had saved from that life of misfortune, one he had been to fearful to escape on his own at the time. If it hadn't been for Luffy, he might still be…

The boy shook his head trying to clear his thoughts. That part of his life was over now. In the past, to be forgotten. It did him no good to dwell on it.

But still…

He continued down the road, his book in hand, He would probably be spending this dreadfully long three weeks wandering the island, and reading at out-of-the-way taverns. All he wanted was someplace to read in peace until he had to return to the ship for evening chores, and more importantly, his training.

The door jingled lightly as he entered the tavern. It was almost empty, save for a few shadowy looking patrons and a woman seated at the bar who turned to look at him as he entered.

Her long black hair cascaded freely down her back, shimmering faintly in the dim light as she turned her head. Her eyes were a lovely shade of dark green, but he thought they looked a bit sad and wistful. She surveyed him pleasantly, her dark scarlet lips curving into a smile. To say she was merely pretty would have been an understatement, she absolutely lovely.

The boy couldn't be sure, but there was something about her colorful attire, the extravagant jewelry at her throat and wrists, and a suspicious glint of silver at her waist that made him uneasy.

Was she a pirate?

And he, was a Marine.

"Too young to drink?" she asked the boy pleasantly, trying to strike a conversation, as he sat down at a nearby table. All she wanted was someone to talk to, really. She was taking a risk talking to him, there was a price on her head after all, but all she wanted was conversation, company.

"Pardon?" the boy asked, looking up from his book.

"Are you too young to drink?" she repeated, tilting her glass at him. "Or are you not the type?"

"Not the type." the boy responded with a little laugh.

"Do you live around here?" she inquired politely.

The boy shook his head.

"Just passing though. I'm a Marine, you see." he said with a distinct note of pride in his voice that she noticed with slight unease. "We're just waiting for our log pose to set."

"You've got quite a bit of a wait then." she answered. "Three weeks, is it?"

"Yes, it is." said the boy with a look of surprise. "Do you sail as well?"

"Just a bit." she answered as casually as she could. "I rather enjoy it." It was all she could think of, and it was perfectly true.

"You're not a pirate, are you?" asked the boy.

"And what if I was?" she shot back, trying to sound offended at the accusation. The boy was smart.

"I meant no offence Miss." said the boy quickly, and she hoped she had convinced him. "My apologies." He sounded sincere enough.

"None taken." she replied, relaxing a bit.

She surveyed the boy. On first impression, he seemed fairly innocent, but he clearly had the mind and physical strength of any adult. He seemed so young to have chosen the path of a sailor though. She found herself rather liking him.

He had been shocked with the beautiful woman at the bar had suddenly struck up a conversation with him. That someone like her would even think to acknowledge him. So she was here for thee weeks as well, and she was also some sort of sailor. She had certainly seemed highly affronted at his suggestion of piracy. He hadn't meant to upset her as well. She definitely wasn't a pirate.

Or else, she was a brilliant actress.

But if she _was_ a pirate, she certainly had guts to be talking to him. It was obvious he was a Marine. But still, he could have sworn she was wearing a pistol at her waist just a moment ago.

"So what are you doing on this island?" he asked her. "Vacationing? Do you have family?"

The woman laughed, almost bitterly though, and he caught that wistful look in her eyes again.

"Vacationing? Family? Hardly. The ship I'm on is simply stopped here for supplies and to set the log pose. It shall be a very dull three weeks. Nothing to do but try to avoid all the men on the ship." she added, with a little laugh.

"Are you the only woman aboard your ship?" he asked her, in surprise.

She nodded.

"That's rather odd." he said. "There are many women employed as Marines, and several of them have very prestigious ranks. You're not…." he paused, a thought crossing his head that he wished hadn't.

"Not what?" she asked, quizzically.

"Never mind." he said, sheepishly.

"Oh, you mean a prostitute?" the woman laughed. "No, don't worry. I wasn't _hired_ for the ship."

He could practically feel himself turning scarlet with embarrassment.

"Are you blushing?" she giggled. "Oh my, have I made you blush?"

He looked away, trying to suppress a mortified grin.

"Oh come now." she said, stepping down lightly from the bar stool and taking up the seat across from him. "Don't get all shy and flustered on me."

He became aware of a strange feeling of fear, excitement and elation in the pit of his stomach.

"What are you reading?" she asked, picking up his book. She surveyed the cover and her beautiful features lit up with delight.

"You're reading _Twelfth Night_?" she said, her voice delighted. "I love Shakespeare! And _Twelfth Night_ is my favorite of his stories!"

"Really?" he replied, surprised by this, as he had been told several times by one of his friends he'd never meet a girl sitting around and reading poetry like a nerd. "You enjoy Shakespeare?"

"Of course I do!" she said enthusiastically, now pouring over the pages. She stared off for a moment. "I've always wished I could act in Shakespeare a performance." she murmured, somewhat dreamily. "To be up on a stage, with the lights, and the audience, everyone staring at you…" Her voice trailed off, and there was a definite look of longing in her eyes.

"I'd be terrified." he responded with a sheepish grin. "I couldn't stand being the center of attention like that."

"I'd love it." she said, her voice almost a whisper, and he could tell she was certainly the dramatic sort. If she loved it so much, why wasn't she an actress? Why was she sailing around, instead of performing?

A nearby grandfather clock began to strike the hour.

"Oh, is it seven o'clock already?" the woman said, looking around. "Dammit, I was supposed to be at the harbor a half hour ago. The _captain_-" she said this rolling her eyes and a definite note of sarcasm in her voice. "-would be annoyed if he knew I was late to help tack the ship because I spent the afternoon in a bar drinking."

"You have to leave?" he said. He wanted to talk more with her. He didn't know the last time he had spoken with someone who appreciated the kinds of things he read, much less a beautiful female.

"I'm afraid I do." she said, standing up. "I'm sorry to leave so abruptly."

She smiled apologetically and crossed from the table and waved politely to him before walking out the door, which swung shut with a little jingle of bells.

He probably wouldn't see her again, he thought, sadly. But still, those dark green eyes, and shimmering hair….

He hadn't even found out her name.

He sighed, and resumed Twelfth Night.

The door jingled again.

"I thought I'd find you down at some tavern reading your silly poetry." the new arrival laughed good-naturedly. "I keep telling you, you're never going to find a girl this way. Girls don't like Shakespeare, Coby."

"You'd be surprised, Helmeppo." Coby muttered, not taking his eyes from the page.

* * *

The woman approached the harbor, surveying the ship. It had been stripped of its colorful pennants and sails so as not to draw suspicion or attract the attention of Marines. It was their typical procedure whenever they docked at a new harbor, to remove the ship of its colorful decorations so they could appear to be ordinary sailors, not pirates.

She thought it made the ship look rather boring.

"You're late, though that's nothing new." said the captain, striding up to her. "Listen, there's a Marine ship docked at the opposite harbor, you can't just be roaming the town."

She simply yawned in his face and shrugged.

"I don't exactly care." she said, glowering her captain with annoyance. "You're always paranoid anyway."

She was in a somewhat bad mood, considering she'd had to leave the Marine boy she had only just met in the middle of their pleasant conversation.

"Don't you care about the price on your head?"

"Not in particular. Anyway," she added. "I don't want to stay on your ship."

"What?" responded the captain, looking shocked.

"I. Don't. Want. To. Stay. On. Your. Ship." she repeated, very slowly as if she were speaking to a particularly dull child. "I just want a little peace and quiet while we're here, that's all. You know, maybe sleep in bed, instead of a hammock, and not have to put up with you lot drunk all night. Get some beauty sleep, maybe?"

"Oh, like _you_ of all people need beauty sleep. And _you're_ sure one to talk about getting drunk."

"All I want is time to myself, is that too much to ask?" she practically yelled, in her aggravation. "I want to be alone, for once!"

She knew though no matter how much her _'captain'_ might disagree however, he wouldn't stop her from doing what she wanted. He didn't have that sort of control over her. She held as much authority as he did, and there were…other reasons he wouldn't stop her. He was easy to manipulate.

"Fine." he said, glowering. "Just come by the ship once in awhile. With the Marines in town just at least try to keep a low profile. I don't want to see you captured. It would put me in and the whole crew in danger and…"

But she wasn't exactly listening, not that she wanted to. Now that she had the freedom to be away from the ship, maybe would she come across that boy again? Perhaps continue their conversation? She hadn't even found out his name.

"…because I'll blame myself if you get captured, and then we'll have to figure out how to rescue you, that is if they don't kill you first, and - are you even listening to me?"

"No."

Her captain groaned. "Do you care about anything?" he said, in exasperation. "_Other_ than your reflection?"

"I'm so sorry, we're you trying to tell me something important?" she said sweetly, but her smile dripping with sarcasm. "My apologies. Now what exactly were you saying, Buggy? Do enlighten me."

Buggy sighed, knowing he would get nowhere.

"Alvida," he said finally. "Just please don't be…careless."

* * *

**So what did you think? Let me know! **


	2. Old Scars and Old Fears

**Here we are again. I do understand that this story is painfully slow to start with, but it picks up tempo as it goes along. Please bear with it for now.**

**Just some general background for anyone who cares, Shakespeare's **_**Twelfth Night**_** is in short a romance of mistaken identities. There's a lot more to it than that though, involving shipwrecks, cross-dressing and lost twins, but it involves the wrong people falling in love while not completely knowing who they are. That's what I'm going for here. **

**I still don't own One Piece.**

* * *

"_Away, and mock the time with fairest show;  
False face must hide what false heart doth know."  
-Macbeth, Act I, Scene 7._

_Finally_, she was _alone._ For these three weeks she could just be alone.

Alvida casually tossed her traveling bags on the mattress of the bed. An actual bed! She wouldn't have to sleep in a hammock for once, with the water crashing deafeningly around and swaying with the sickening motion of the ship.

She let herself fall back on the ship with pleasure as she stared at the ceiling. What if the boy came back to the tavern? It would be nice to see him again. She sat up and surveyed herself in the dresser mirror, but turned her gaze away quickly. She began unpacking her various belongings and hanging up her clothes in the wardrobe, but her thoughts kept drifting back to the boy. There was something so oddly familiar about him. How strongly and confidently he carried himself. But it seemed somewhat troubling, that a boy of such a young age was exposing himself to the hardships of the sea.

_"But then again, who am I to talk?"_ she thought, guiltily, turning back to the mirror. _"I'm such a hypocrite."_

Her reflection seemed to be twisting, distorting. _"Oh god, not now, not again."_ she thought, trying to tear her eyes from the mirror, feeling a cold sweat break out.

_"A hypocrite? That you are Alvida, and so many other things. I should know, I'm __**you**__." _

Alvida tried to look away from the hideous reflection she knew to be her own, but it held her eyes fast.

_"Afraid of yourself, Alvida? Who you __**were**__?"_

Alvida wrenched her eyes away, and pulled a bottle of sake from her bag. Drinking deeply, she chanced a glance back in the mirror.

Her reflection was the same, as it had been. Completely normal. She breathed a sigh of relief, and drank some more sake.

* * *

"_What's done cannot be undone."  
-Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1._

"You're to be staying at the East Tavern, Coby." Admiral Garp instructed him, as Coby saluted. "We want to remain on a low-profile here. A small island village like this is and idea setup for pirates to dock. If we station our forces at various intervals around the island, we'll have a better chance of catching any activity of piracy that might be going on."

Coby's mind was wandering. He'd done this a million times or more, it was standard procedure for any uncharted island they might come across. Keep a low profile, spread out, blend in with the civilians, and most importantly…

"Keep your identity a secret." Garp finished. "It's of course the key to maintaining a sense of secrecy here. We don't know the townsfolk, and don't want them to be suspicious. We don't know who we can trust. The villagers would be uneasy if they knew Marines were scouting out pirates, and any pirates who might be here would leave. So no matter where your stations, no matter who you meet, don't give out any information that could associate you with the Marines."

Coby had never quite understood why he practically had to play "secret agent" every time they docked at a new island. He had always felt silly pretending he was an ordinary traveler and introducing himself as "Satoshi," (his codename, Helmeppo's was Matsu.) but he certainly wasn't about to try and defy Marine regulations that had been in place for decades. He always put up with the occasional odd rules and codes here and there, and this was one of them.

He made his was back to the tavern and upstairs to a room after checking in with the proprietor. His eyes wandered back to the bar stool where he had spoke with the woman yesterday. Maybe she would come back to the tavern of an evening again. He would have greatly liked to have been able to speak with her more. Those haunting green eyes, and long black hair…but still, he was not completely without his suspicions about her occupation. He wasn't totally convinced she was just a female sailor. She was too colorful, too extravagant…there was just something there that aroused his instincts.

He pulled off his Marine uniform to change into his "ordinary civilian clothes."

But as he pulled his jacket off though, he caught sight of his back in the mirror. He sighed and looked away, quickly pushing old thoughts and memories from his mind.

"Some scars just don't heal." he murmured to himself.

* * *

Alvida was wondering what to do with herself, now that she could do as she pleased. As tempting as it was, she didn't want to spend the entirety of the time down at the tavern's bar drinking away the images in her mirror and ending up totally wasted. She needed something to do.

Putting on a casual skirt and top, she decided she would look around the village. She just hoped she wouldn't run into anyone from Buggy's ship, asking her odd questions about why she wasn't on their ship, or any Marines for that matter. If the boy hadn't recognized her by now, she hoped he would remain ignorant of her identity completely. But the price on her head had certainly gone up recently, since she had eluded capture for so long since the Loguetown affair. She still laughed at the memory of Luffy's shocked expression as she had whipped off her shawl and declared her "love" for him. He had been so gullible as to have actually believed her…Ha! As if! Though she supposed it was as close to acting as she'd ever get.

But she wished she could experience the stage, for real once. The lights, the audience, the music…

_"It must be so magical."_ she thought, as she walked out the door. _"But I'm a pirate. It doesn't work that way."_

* * *

Coby had decided that he wasn't going to spend all of his time alone in his room reading Shakespeare, as pleasant as that would be. He wanted to go out and explore, do something out of the ordinary. Slipping a few beli into his pocket, he stepped out of his room and locked the door behind him.

"Well now, this is surprising!"

Coby turned with astonishment to see the beautiful woman from yesterday, standing feet from him.

"What a coincidence! My room is right here!" she laughed, gesturing to the room directly across from his.

"Oh Miss! I met you yesterday!" said Coby, trying not to sound overexcited or eager. "Downstairs, wasn't it?"

"Yes!" she replied, beaming. "I take it you're staying here as well?"

"Only as long as it takes the log pose to set." Coby responded.

"Well, it's the same with me." she said, still smiling. "It would seem we'll be seeing a lot more of each other."

She laughed, her voice so sweet and endearing that Coby couldn't help but laugh in return.

"I apologize for dashing off in the middle of our conversation." the woman continued. "And I don't believe I caught your name."

He felt stupid, having to play the Marine's game of secrecy. Why couldn't he just tell her his name? _"My name's Coby, Miss. Just Coby. What's yours?"_ What was so wrong about that?

"What's wrong?" the woman asked. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." said Coby, bringing himself out of his reverie. "My apologies. I'm…Satoshi."

He forced the false name out, hating that fact that he was tricking her.

An odd expression passed over her face, her green eyes scrutinizing him.

"Satoshi?" she repeated, looking him over.

_"Dammit! She knows I'm lying."_ thought Coby desperately.

"You don't have to tell me your real name if you don't want to, hon." she said, raising an eyebrow.

"What do you-" Coby began.

"I know when people are acting." she said with a smile. "No doubt you're simply following some silly regulation by the Marines. I can call you Satoshi if you like, but if you're going to play masquerade then you simply must let me play too. It shall add to the dramatics of our acquaintance, don't you think?"

Coby blushed. This woman was certainly clever, something he admired, but he couldn't help but be suspicious. The only reason he was keeping his identity a secret was because he was told to. She already knew he was a Marine, from yesterday. But why was she so keen to play along? Did she have something to hide? That odd misgiving of yesterday crept back into his mind…could she be a pirate after all?

"Call me Viola." she said, smiling. "She chose to be someone else didn't she?"

"Viola it is." said Coby, trying to shake his feelings of mistrust. He bent close and whispered, "You're _not_ supposed to know I'm a Marine."

"Well, you ruined that charade yesterday after I saw you in uniform." she laughed. "Ah well. It shall be our secret. I wouldn't want you getting in any trouble with your officers now. We couldn't have that, now could we…_Satoshi._"

Coby blushed.

* * *

Alvida had been completely stunned to find herself face to face with the boy she had been thinking of only moments before. He looked just as attractive as he had yesterday, only without the Marine attire.

He seemed typical of any Marine, thorough and law-abiding. She didn't believe for a moment that his name was actually "Satoshi." If he didn't trust her, Satoshi she would allow him to be.

But she held nothing against it. It gave her a reason to disguise her own name. She would have been an idiot to have given her real name out to a Marine, a name that now carried 15 million beli? It wasn't a huge sum, compared to a majority of the pirates in the Grand Line, but it was enough. No matter how endearing and intelligent "Satoshi" might be, it did not change their positions in the world.

He was a Marine. She was a pirate.

"_My name? Alvida. Queen Alvida, you know? I go by Lady Alvida too though. Or Alvida-sama. Oh yes, I am pirate. Yes, I am worth 15 million beli. I think I'm worth much more though. After all, I am the most beautiful woman on all the seas. "_

That definitely wouldn't have worked. As much as she had wanted to trust him, she knew she couldn't just yet. Until she could, (if she ever could) Viola she would be.

"I was thinking of taking a walk, to see the sights around the town." she said. "Would you care to join me, _Satoshi?_ We never did finish our conversation yesterday."

"Great minds think alike." Satoshi replied, grinning.

* * *

**To clarify for you all, when the story is in Alvida's perspective, Coby will be referred to as "Satoshi," due to the fact she obviously doesn't know who he is, and when the story is in Coby's perspective, Alvida will be referred to as "Viola." Reference for you as noted in this chapter: Viola is the main character of Twelfth Night, and she disguises herself as a man to work for a Duke who sends her to woo another woman named Olivia. Clearly not the plot of this story, but as stated before, it's a romance of mistaken identities. **

**Please review! **


	3. Brush Up Your Shakespeare

**I still don't own One Piece. If I did...let's not talk about that. **

**I apologize for the large quantities of Shakespeare in this chapter. You see, I wrote this story originally for my friend Koigokoro-love, and we're both Shakespeare junkies, so that's why this story's so full of it. This chapter is basically just a discussion of random plays here and there. Bear with it. **

**I tried to stick to Shakespeare's more well-known works here and the ones that become fairly self-explanatory through the chapter discussions here, but **_**Titus Andronicus **_**falls into neither category and is often regarded as Shakespeare's worst play. It involves lots murder, rape, an evil queen, lots of limbs getting chopped off, but there's a happy ending because the rapists get baked into a pie and Tamora the evil queen is fed to rabid tigers. (That was sarcasm…)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_I'll have grounds more relative than this—  
The play's the thing!"  
-Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2._

"If I had to choose a favorite, I think it might be _Othello_." Coby said. "It shows how a character you might think to be the hero can ultimately a villain unto himself his driven to make the wrong choices. And in the end, both he and Desdemona end up dying."

"_Othello_ was alright, but I thought it was too depressing. I mean, if you want star crossed lovers that die, Romeo and Juliet certainly fits the category."

"But _everyone_ knows _Romeo and Juliet_!" said Coby. "Two teenagers fall in love, their parents don't agree, it leads to conflict, and they die! It's dreadfully cliché."

Coby was enjoying immensely. He and "_Viola_" were having lunch at a small café, and discussing Shakespeare. It was wonderful to have such a pleasant conversation with lovely woman who shared his interests. He was still not without reservations as to her insistence of being called "Viola," but had decided if she _was_ a pirate, she would have to be a pretty stupid one to freely associate herself with a boy she knew to be a Marine.

"Cliché?" Viola said. "You think _Romeo and Juliet_ is cliché? It's a classic! One of his best! There's a good reason for it being his most well-known!"

"It's teen angst." said Coby. "I don't know, it just never really appealed to me as much as his others. And it seems to be a common plot. I mean, how many romance novels are written today where the boy and girl fall in love and then both die, or run away?"

"Well _I_ don't read trashy romance novels." Viola laughed, with an air of mock superiority. "Well, at least not _much._ I spend my time reading _intelligent_ literature."

Coby laughed. Viola had such an charming and almost mischievous personality about her. And he would be able to see her every day! They could talk about Shakespeare, literature, and anything they pleased. It was wonderful, that she was willing to partake of his company.

"Well, I don't deny that _Romeo and Juliet_ is well-written." said Coby. "Just because I don't enjoy it as much as you doesn't make it any less creditable."

"Fair enough." said Viola.

* * *

"_I do desire we be better strangers!"  
-Love Labour's Lost, Act 3, Scene 1._

Alvida could not remember the last time she'd had such an engaging and intelligent conversation. Ever since she had formed that alliance with that idiot Buggy and his circus of a crew, intelligent conversations had been quite few and far between.

"So do you have any other favorites of Shakespeare?" _Satoshi _asked her. "Don't tell me your one of those people who simply claim to know Shakespeare when all they know is _Romeo and Juliet_, and _Macbeth_ or _Hamlet_ and all his other famous ones."

"I didn't like _Hamlet_." said Alvida. "It was too long. For goodness sake, he could've killed his uncle within the second act and gotten over it, but no…he had to spend four more acts brooding on it and playing the dark and troubled youth. I rather liked _Macbeth_ though."

"It was alright." said Satoshi. "I thought it was awful violent. The poetry was some of his better, though it didn't quite make up for all the murdering."

"That was the best part!" said Alvida enthusiastically. She couldn't help but expand on her love of the macabre. "The violence and insanity, corruption or power, it was amazing. I agree with you on the poetry, but it's hardly violent compared to some of his others. Have you read _Titus Andronicus_?"

"_Titus Andronicus_ was bloody awful!"

"Bloody yes, awful no." said Alvida. "It makes _Macbeth_ look like some sort of nursery rhyme. It was delightfully macabre."

"Delightfully macabre?" said Satoshi, gaping at her. "What was delightful about it?"

"Well I thought the rapist pie was rather amusing." Alvida giggled. "But I did feel rather bad for Tamora."

"You felt bad for Tamora?" said Satoshi, incredulously. "She's the villain, you're not supposed to feel bad for her! She was an adulteress, and _encouraged_ her sons to rape Lavina. It served them right to end up in a pie and for her to eat the pie."

"But look at the discrimination the Goths faced in the story." Alvida replied. "And her eldest son was killed. I don't deny she her actions were wrong, but she had her own perspectives."

"Right then, if I ever read it again, which I doubt I will, I'll be sure to think about 'her perspective'" said Satoshi, with a bit of laugh. "Well, we've certainly talked tragedies, what about his comedies?"

"_Twelfth Night_ is my favorite, as I'm sure you know by now." said Alvida, beaming. "Switched identities, people falling in love without completely knowing who the other is, it's delightful. I also enjoyed _A Midsummer Night's Dream._"

"Ah yes!" said Satoshi. "I loved it! Another wonderful mismatched love story. I found it a bit confusing telling the difference between Hermia and Helena though."

Alvida laughed, now adoring his company more and more by the minute. "You'd think Shakespeare could have thought up better names so we weren't constantly getting them mixed up." she said. "But I adored the poetry. And it was such a vivid story, what with all the magic and faeries."

"What about _Taming of the Shrew_?" Satoshi asked. "I found it particularly amusing."

Alvida scowled.

"It upset me that Pertruchio managed to tame Katherina after all." she said. "And her silly little speech at the end about how wives should submit to their husbands was perfectly ridiculous. I actually felt a bit insulted."

"I meant to offense." said Satoshi quickly, and Alvida could see he was in earnest. "I can see why it would offend you, considering it was written at a time when men had complete dominance over women."

"True." said Alvida. Truth be told, she could be quite the shrew herself when she wanted to be, which was most of the time. "I suppose I'm quite a feminist." she added, with a laugh.

"A feminist? Should I be worried?" said Satoshi, raising an eyebrow I good natured humor.

"Just because I'm a feminist, it doesn't mean I don't like _men._" said Alvida, grinning. She winked, and Satoshi turned pink in surprise.

"Oh my, have I made you blush, _again_?" Alvida laughed. "You tend to blush rather easily, don't you?"

Satoshi laughed rather nervously.

"I'm just rather shy, that's all." he said. "I don't know when the last time I had such a pleasant conversation like this. Honestly."

"I was thinking just about the same thing." said Alvida, surprised that intelligent conversation was so hard to come by in the Marines.

"Well, as I said before." Satoshi said amiably. "Great minds do think alike."

And Alvida began to wonder if she was possibly becoming a bit more than just 'interested' in Satoshi.

* * *

"_Mine eyes were not in fault, for she was beautiful.  
Mine ears heard her flattery, nor my heart that thought her like her seeming.  
It had been vicious to have mistrusted her."  
-Cymbeline, Act 5, Scene 5._

"Coby, I saw _you_ with a _girl_ this afternoon."

"So?" said Coby, glaring at his friend Helmeppo. "What were you doing? Following me?"

"No." said Helmeppo. "I was out in the town and I saw you in a café chatting with a woman. A tall woman, long black hair?"

"Why is it any of your business if I've made friends with a woman?" said Coby, who got sick of Helmeppo's teasing very easily. "Besides, you're the one who's always telling me to go find a girlfriend or something."

"She's your _girlfriend_?" said Helmeppo, looking shocked.

"No! I only just met her!"

"Good Coby, you had me worried there for a moment." said Helmeppo. "Because, I mean…isn't she a bit old for you?"

"I'm just friends with her!" said Coby exasperatedly. "She happened to be staying at the same tavern I am, and her room's right across from mine."

"Her room's across from yours?" Helmeppo repeated, looking scandalized. "Coby, don't go doing anything dirty."

"Will you shut up Helmeppo!" said Coby, about ready to throw his volume of _The Tempest_ (He had finished _Twelfth Night _earlier that day) across the table at Helmeppo. "I've made friends with her! That's it! Really."

Helmeppo shut up, and Coby resumed reading.

"So," Helmeppo ventured after a long silence. "Do you like her?"

Did he like her? Coby tried to think how he was supposed to answer. How could you not, _like_ her, in that sense. How could you not feel attracted to a woman like her? Her looks were simply enough. Her sparkling green eyes, and long black hair, that framed her face. The odd, almost unnatural shimmer of her skin, how smooth it seemed…

But why was he thinking about her so explicitly? She was brilliant, and wonderful to speak to. She was clever, intelligent, and perhaps rather flirtatious, but obviously well-read and educated. All these things to Coby were just as important, (if not more so) as physical beauty.

Did her like her? Of course he did. He liked her as friend. He liked her the way he liked the Admiral, Luffy, and even Helmeppo, despite how much he agitated Coby at times.

But to like her in…_that _sense?

How could he deny it?

"Coby?'

"Huh?"

"I said, do you like her?"

Coby shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"So, are you going to ask her out?"

"What?" said Coby, not expecting this.

"You know." said Helmeppo, giving Coby a good-natured nudge in the arm. "Ask her out. On a date? Go out to dinner or something fancy like that."

"Oh no." said Coby, shaking his head. "I couldn't do something like that."

"Why not?"

"It…It just wouldn't work. "I mean, she's wonderful to talk to and all, but I don't think she'd want to do something like that. She is older than me, and I-"

"Stop making excuses." said Helmeppo. "Just try it and see what happens. We're only here three weeks, you might as well do something besides _reading_. And you never know unless you ask."

"So, did either of you encounter anything suspicious?" cut in the authoritative voice of Admiral Garp. Coby and Helmeppo both quickly stood up and saluted. "Meet anyone uncanny?"

"Coby met a girl!" blurted out Helmeppo eagerly. "I saw them together! She's hot! But not as hot as this guy I met down by the harbor!"

"Shut up Helmeppo!" Coby muttered, jabbing him in the ribs. He didn't particularly want Helmeppo to tell Admiral Garp about "Viola," and didn't exactly want to hear about whatever guy Helmeppo might have met. Helmeppo was famous for making out with random men by odd harbors and other places Coby didn't care to think about.

"A woman?" said Garp, looking surprised. "Really? _You _Coby, with a woman?"

Garp gave Coby a searching, almost suspicious look that made him feel uncomfortable, as though Garp was reading his thoughts.

"Yes sir." said Coby, blushing and looking away slightly.

"Well, if you want any advice on how to handle women, I'll be more than happy to share my knowledge on the matter." chuckled Garp good-naturedly, his odd expression passing. "You're looking at an expert right here. Why, when I was your age, I had so many girls chasing me, I-."

"Admiral!" gasped Coby and Helmeppo, looking shocked.

"I was only offering advice." said Garp, still chuckling. "So, neither of you saw or heard anything worth reporting?"

Those odd suspicions about Viola crept back into his head.

_"You're not a pirate, are you?" _

_"And what if I was?"_

_"…If you're going to play masquerade then you simply must let me play too. It shall add to the dramatics of our acquaintance, don't you think?"_

Coby tried to dismiss his doubts. There was no way she could be a pirate. He was overreacting. It was impossible for her to be a pirate.

"I didn't see anything." Helmeppo was saying. "There were some oddly dressed sailors around, they looked a bit like street performers, but other than that not really. Let me tell you about the guy I met though! I-"

"Thank you for sharing, Helmeppo." Garp cut in quickly. "Coby, what about you?"

She wasn't a pirate. She couldn't be. Or else, was he just trying to convince himself?

"No sir." said Coby, avoiding Garp's gaze. "Nothing unusual."

There was no response. Garp had fallen asleep, which happened rather often.

"Uh, sir?" said Helmeppo, tentatively.

"What?" said Garp, suddenly. "Did I doze off again? What were you saying

Coby, you didn't see anything?"

"No sir."

"Very well then, you are free to go." said Garp. "Helmeppo, I want you to stay a moment. Nothing serious, just I few reports I think you might have documented incorrectly. It won't take a moment."

Listening to Helmeppo protest as he descended the gangplank, Coby wondered how he would get up the nerve to ask Viola out.

"Admiral sir, I know I filed those papers correctly! I thought that I-"

"Sit down Helmeppo, this has nothing to do with your records, though I could say they need some work. You have dreadful handwriting. But this is about Coby."

"Coby?" repeated Helmeppo in surprise. "What about him? If we're talking about him, why'd you make him leave?"

"This woman you mentioned you saw him with." said Garp, ignoring Helmeppo's question. "What did she look like?"

"I don't know, she was pretty." said Helmeppo, shrugging. "She had long black hair, and her skin was really fair, kind of shiny-looking. Why?"

"Long black hair and fair skin. Hmmm…." Garp murmured, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes thoughtfully.

"Sir?"

"Oh, sorry Helmeppo." said Garp, waking up.

"Why are you asking me this woman that Coby's with?" Helmeppo asked. "He only just met her, and they're friends. What's wrong with that?"

"Did he mention her name?"

"No."

"These sailors you saw earlier, you said they looked like street performers?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Hmmm…." murmured Garp again, drumming his fingers on the table. "I want to keep an eye on Coby. And as for this woman, see if you can bring me a photograph or sketch of her. You can sketch figures very well despite your abysmal handwriting, let's see if we can put that to work drawing something _other_ than hentai."

Helmeppo scowled.

"I just need to know what she looks like." said Garp. "That's all."

"But why sir?" asked Helmeppo, perturbed.

"I have my concerns about her."

* * *

**I know it's slow…but I ask you to still bear with it. It will get better. I know Garp and Helmeppo are a little on the OOC side, but since they're not hugely important characters in this story I left them that way. R and R! (I'm surprised no one's flamed me by now…)**


	4. Dreams and Dress Shopping

**I've decided to leave less time between my posts. I will now try to post twice a week when I can. **

**And yay! No Shakespeare discussions in this chapter! That'll make everyone happy! (Except me…) **

**I still don't own One Piece…like I really need to tell you that. **

* * *

"_A dream itself is but a shadow."  
-Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2._

_"You idiot boy!"_

"_I'm sorry Alvida-sama! Please…please don't-"_

"_Don't what you little brat? Can't you even speak up for yourself?"_

"_Please…please don't hurt me!"_

"_Don't hurt you? You think all of your pleading and tears are going to stop me? You make me sick Coby."_

"_No!"_

Alvida awoke with a jolt, trembling. It had been a dream, nothing more. She was still in her room at the tavern, her mace locked in the closet, and she was still…

She bolted from the mattress and stared in the mirror. She sighed in relief. Yes, she was still beautiful. Why wouldn't she be? It was only a dream of her former self, which constantly plagued her.

She tore her eyes from the mirror before it could begin to torture her, as it always did if she stared too long.

She withdrew a bottle of sake from the closet and sat back down of the bed. Why had she dreamed of Coby? It made no sense at all. She hadn't thought of the boy for ages now, so why had her subconscious mind suddenly reverted to her memory? What had trigged the unintended recollection?

She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the images left by the dream, and how she must have scarred that boy, in so many ways.

What time was it anyway? Alvida looked at the clock. She'd slept in later than she had meant to. After lunch with Satoshi he had gone back to his ship for some sort of meeting, and she had returned to her room, drank a little sake, read a little Shakespeare, and fallen asleep. Despite her dreams, it had been quite pleasant to fall asleep whenever she pleased and not be woken up by the rambunctious song and dance of Buggy's crew in the middle of the night.

She wondered how Satoshi's meeting had gone. He had 'escorted' her back to the tavern but then left right afterward lunch, but she didn't hear him return within the afternoon, and figured he must have come back while she had fallen asleep.

She caught of a small note slid beneath the crack in the door. Perturbed, she retrieved it and slit it open with her fingernail.

_On my way home last night I discovered an opera house on Sterling Avenue that performs Shakespearean plays. Coincidentally, they happen to be performing your favorite play._

There was another piece of paper attached to the note. It was a ticket, reading "_**Twelfth Night**__," or "__**What You Will."**__ Shakespeare's famous romance of disguise and mistaken identities! Performed by the players of the Sterling Opera House. _

Generic information was listed beneath, performance time, seating arrangements, etc. She looked closely at the date stamped on the little card. It was tonight actually, at nine o'clock. She peered at rest of Satoshi's note.

_Only if you want to._

Alvida felt absolutely delighted.

So, Satoshi wanted a date, did he?

* * *

"What do you think of this one?" said Alvida, emerging with a flourish from the dressing room, in a shimmering lavender strapless gown. "Do you think the color's a bit pale on me?"

The wizened old shopkeeper squinted at her through thick spectacles.

"You look lovely, Miss." he said in a wheezy little voice.

Alvida sighed. That had been his response for the past nine dresses she'd tried on. Either he had no creativity, or his eyesight was so poor that all the dresses looked the same to him.

"Fine." she said, trying not to sound too disgruntled, as she strode back into the dressing room.

She finally settled on a bright scarlet dress, with a sequined bodice and black lace. She wanted to look absolutely perfect for Satoshi. After paying the tiresome shopkeeper, she then decided the walk down Sterling Avenue to look at the opera house.

It was a lovely piece of architecture, with elegant flying buttresses and gothic-styled windows. Golden carvings of nymphs and goddesses formed an arch over the ornately carved wooden door. Surely an opera house as this was surely the pride and highlight attraction of such small island as this. She noticed a couple of women, about her age and dressed extravagantly walk into a small side door marked **"No Public Admittance. Actors and Stage Hands Only." **She watched them with jealously and admiration.

What she wouldn't give to have their life on the stage.

"Alvida."

Alvida spun around at the mention of her name. Buggy was standing inches from her.

"What do you want?" she asked coolly.

"You didn't come by the ship yesterday." said Buggy, looking cross.

"I fell asleep." said Alvida shrugging.

"For the whole afternoon?" said Buggy, scowling.

"You can scold me all you want Buggy. I don't give a damn." said Alvida, rolling her eyes. "I'm doing what I please while we're here."

Buggy was silent, and Alvida turned to leave, not wanting to associate with her idiot of a captain in public.

"Mohji says he saw you with a boy yesterday."

Alvida froze and turned back around.

"Did you send that lion freak of yours to spy on me?" she asked, anger making its way into her voice.

"That's neither here nor there." said Buggy, folding his arms. "But _I_ saw you too, Alvida. You _were_ with a boy yesterday."

"And so what if I was?" she said, flaring on defense. "I met him at the tavern I'm staying, away from you and your lot. We went out to look around the village and ended up going out to lunch. What's so bad about that?"

"Alvida," said Buggy, with a note of concern. "He's a Marine."

"Oh my goodness." said Alvida, her voice heavy with disdain. "I had absolutely no idea."

"You can be sarcastic with me all you want, Alvida." said Buggy. "But you're playing a dangerous game, freely associating yourself with Marines? You're not some run-of-the-mill pirate. There's a price on your head. The Marines keep records and pictures, and all sorts of information. Don't tell me you gave out your name to him."

"How much of an idiot do you think I am, Buggy?" said Alvida incredulously, becoming more and more irritated. "Oh yes, I told him who I am. We're meeting with his Admiral later this afternoon so he can arrest me and claim the 15 million beli on my head. And perhaps we'll stop to have lunch on the way. My idea of a lovely afternoon, don't you agree?"

"You think this is funny, don't you Alvida?" Buggy snapped, now becoming defensive as well. "Yes, it's all fun and games to flirt with cute little Marines, until you get caught, and the next you know you'll be in prison, or worse…"

Buggy's voice trailed off, and odd shudder passing over his grotesquely painted features.

"The firing squad."

Alvida yawned and rolled her eyes again.

"Oh yes, I just love to court danger." she said, her voice still dripping with sarcasm. "Listen Buggy, it's not your job to take care of me, so you can leave off the melodramatic lectures and stop sending your circus freaks to stalk me. Okay?"

"But what's so special about this boy?" said Buggy. "Why are you associating yourself with some odd Marine boy who just happens to be on this island? _Why him?_"

Alvida could hear the distinct note of envy and longing within Buggy's voice. He was jealous, and Alvida knew it.

"Well, one thing's for certain." she taunted. "He doesn't look like a circus reject."

She knew she'd gone too far then. Had it been anyone but her, Buggy would've likely killed them on the spot.

"I'm sorry." she muttered, avoiding his eyes and hoping she sounded sincere. "Honestly."

Buggy shrugged halfheartedly, and nodded.

"So umm…I see you've been shopping." he said, abruptly changing the subject. "What did you buy? Clothes? Don't you have enough?"

"Actually, a dress." said Alvida smiling.

"A dress? For what?"

"I've got a date tonight."


	5. And So to the Venture

**Short chapter, but chapter 6 is considerably longer to make up for it. Not much happens in this chapter, sorry to bore you. Next chapter is far more interesting. **

**Do I really have to keep saying this? I don't own One Piece! **

* * *

"_In time we hate what we often fear."  
-Antony and Cleopatra, Act 1, Scene 3._

"_Please…s-stop it! Alvida-sama that hurts!"_

"_You're such a weakling, Coby. You say __**that**__ hurts? How about I hit you for real?"_

"_No…please…Alvida-sama."_

"_You worthless boy, I don't even know why I let you live."_

Coby awoke, drenched in cold sweat. His back stung with pain. Perturbed, he realized he had fallen out of bed and landed on a stack of books by his bedside and their edges were digging into his back.

He straightened up, still breathing heavily. He ran a hand over his back. No damage done, at least, no damage that hadn't been there already.

He shuddered, the images of the dream still fresh in his mind. He surveyed his back in the mirror, and hung his head, ashamed at having a nightmare after such a long time. He felt his fists clench together in anger. Anger at himself, and at…_her_.

When he had first joined the Marines, he had been constantly plagued by dreams of his 'previous life' but he thought he had long since gotten over them. What had brought about the reoccurrence of such a dream? Finding no answers, he sighed and stood up. He had crossed to his closet, when he noticed a small piece of paper tucked under the crack of the door.

Had Viola written him back?

His hands shaking, Coby carefully unfolded the little note and read the message.

"_The play's the thing!"_

_See you tonight at 7:00! I cannot wait!_

_-Viola. _

Coby held the note, almost disbelieving. She had said yes! All thoughts of his dream gone, and filled with a sudden feeling of courage, he put on his coat and decided he'd go buy flowers.

* * *

"_I see that the fashion wears out more apparel than the man!  
But art not thou thyself giddy with the fashion too?"  
-Much Ado About Nothing, Act 3, Scene 3._

Alvida wanted to look perfect. Absolutely perfect. She would probably be quite overdressed compared to Satoshi, but she didn't care. She wanted to impress him, and she _loved_ to get dressed up. It was like preparing for a performance.

She started getting ready hours beforehand. She carefully, washed, combed, brushed, and curled her hair until it glistened and sparkled on her shoulders. (Though Mohji was currently in possession of her best hair brush) And then of course, she had to choose jewelry to match the dress. Yes, gold looked good with scarlet, but so did silver. And what about pearls? Should she wear chandelier earrings, or studs? Was her dress showing too much cleavage? Should she wear a shawl in that case? If so, what color? And what about makeup? Should she go with darker shades of red and pink, or something more subtle?

Alvida couldn't remember the last time she'd had so much fun dressing up for an occasion.

One of her pistols was lying on the dresser, and her mace was inside the closet. She wanted to be prepared, seeing as she and Satoshi would be out late at night on an island neither of them knew too well. It was simply her pirate instinct that prompted her to make sure she was always carrying some sort of weapon. It would have been absolutely ridiculous to consider bringing her mace. She couldn't possibly imagine showing up for Satoshi with _that_ over her shoulder. Not only was it large and impractical to be carrying around, it would have been like screaming to a Marine who she was.

But a pistol on the other hand, she could easily conceal. Her dress had no pockets though. (It would have been glaringly unattractive.) She attempted to stick it down the front of her dress, but it looked rather lopsided and would have drawn far more attention to her chest than she cared for.

Feeling pleasantly 'naughty,' she slid a crimson garter up left thigh and tucked the pistol into the elastic. Perfect. She just hoped she would have no need to use it.

She was just touching up her lipstick and smearing a bit of glitter on her eyes, when she heard a knock on the door. Breathlessly, she carefully walked over to the door, trying not to fall over in the heels she was wearing, (Alvida found heels dreadfully uncomfortable to walk in, as she much preferred wearing sandals, but she was willing to suffer the pain in order to look nice.) and opened it.

Satoshi was standing there, clutching a beautiful bouquet of red and white carnations, and looking as though he was about to pass out.

"No need to look so terrified, Satoshi." Alvida laughed. "It's just me. And you brought me flowers? Oh my! That's wonderful!"

Alvida certainly hadn't expected flowers. Satoshi must have really wanted this to be special. Satoshi was staring at her almost in rapture as she relieved him of the bouquet and set them on her dresser.

They were red and white carnations, she noticed with surprise. Red carnations symbolizing respect and admiration, and white ones symbolizing timidity and innocence. She was impressed. She carefully plucked a bright red one from the bouquet and clipped it into her hair with a pin.

"How do I look?" she inquired, turning dramatically on the spot to face him.

Satoshi was still staring at her almost in awe.

_"Beautiful?"_

_"Lovely?"_

_"Elegant?"_

_"Stunning?"_

"Very fancy." said Satoshi finally.

_"Very fancy."_ thought Alvida with some amusement. Ah well.

"Why thank you." she said, smiling broadly. "It was so nice of you to ask me to a play. I walked by the opera house today. It looks lovely."

"I thought it might be something interesting to do." said Satoshi, a bit nervously. "I mean, we obviously both love Shakespeare, and it's not like I know anyone else who likes Shakespeare. And it's _Twelfth Night_, and you told me it's your favorite play, so yeah…I um….I…"

_"Poor thing, he's so nervous."_ thought Alvida, as Satoshi's voice trailed off anxiously.

"It's alright." she said soothingly. "Don't get so worked up. We're just going to go see the play and have a good time. That's all, right?"

But Alvida knew it was really a date.

* * *

"_The silence of often a pure innocence itself persuades when speaking fails."  
-A Winter's Tale, Act 2, Scene 2._

When she had opened the door and appeared in the doorway, wearing a beautiful dress of deep crimson, her pale skin almost glowing and her hair swirling about her shoulders, it was all Coby could do not to drop the bouquet and faint.

Did she understand the flowers? He had picked the red carnations out of admiration, but the white ones represented his own shyness and naivety. He had never done anything like this before, much less with a woman like Viola. He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do.

And all he had managed to say was: "Very fancy." That had been all he could manage. It no where near did her justice. She looked like a goddess in scarlet. Nothing short of radiant.

But then she had said, "We're just going to go see the play and have a good time. That's all, right?" That _was _all, wasn't it? Had he somehow hoped for more, or was that all there was to a date? Probably not. But still, perhaps he could imagine it was.

Summoning his courage he took a deep breath and said,_ "Shall we set about some revels?"_ and proffered his arm, stunned by his own courage. And to his surprise, she took it.

_"And so to the venture."_ Viola responded with a smile.

* * *

**Anything in italics is a Shakespeare quote, in case you haven't figured this out already. "Shall we set about some revels?" and "And so to the venture" are just random lines about going out to have a good time from a of couple random plays. Hope you liked it! **


	6. Exposure

**My apologies for not posting yesterday. I had intended to, however my computer chose that day to have issues and not let me do what I wanted. Sorry the last chapter was so boring. I have a bad habit of writing about clothes too much, so I'm sure you were all slightly bored by the proceedings. Don't worry. Not only is this chapter longer, it's more interesting. This is when the story actually starts picking up momentum…so enjoy!**

**And guess what? I still don't own One Piece! **

* * *

"_Like a dull actor now,  
I have forgot my part, and I am out.  
Even to a full disgrace."  
-Coriolanus, Act 5, Scene 3._

"What an absolutely lovely performance!" Alvida said, as they made their way from the opera house. "The actors were nothing short of brilliant! To say nothing of the costumes and scenery!"

"I thought the actor who played Malvolio could have been a bit better." said Satoshi. "He seemed a little too reserved."

"Oh you're just being picky." laughed Alvida. "I don't think the show could have been any better. It's one thing to read Shakespeare, but it's quite another thing to see it actually performed."

"I agree with you there." said Satoshi. "It must be impossible to memorize all those lines, not to mention in old-fashioned English. And what was that song they sang at the end?"

"_When that I was and a little tiny boy...With hey, ho, the wind and the rain...A foolish thing was but a toy...For the rain it raineth every day…" _Alvida sang, happily recalling the song.

"Wow, you have a beautiful voice!" said Satoshi, staring at her in awe.

"Really?" said Alvida, surprised. "I've never really done much singing or anything."

"No, your voice is amazing!" said Satoshi. "I'll bet you could be an amazing actress!"

"I would love to be." said Alvida, wistfully. "I know I told you, but I would love to act so much. To be up on a stage, with all those lights illuminating your presence, hundreds of people staring at you, hanging on your every word…"

"It would terrify me." said Satoshi. "Wouldn't you be scared, with all those people looking at you?"

"Of course not." said Alvida, shaking her head. "I _love_ to be the center of attention."

She giggled, hoping she didn't sound silly.

"I'm not trying to be conceited or anything." she added. "But it's true."

"You know I'm shy." said Satoshi. "Being the center of attention would be too much for me. I prefer to just stand in the background, speak only if spoken to, try not to cause any trouble, isolate myself I guess."

"Oh, I could never be like that." said Alvida. "Everyone's different, but I can't stand being isolated. I hate being alone."

"But you're rooming in the tavern alone." said Satoshi.

"That's somewhat different." said Alvida. "To me isolation, is to be cut off from the world completely. Too be confined, with no other people to interact with, completely alone…that's what terrifies me."

"So you fear imprisonment?"

"Perhaps."

Alvida felt this was a rather odd topic of conversation, and rather melancholy for a walk home on a date especially after such a cheery performance.

But it was odd, how different they were, she and Satoshi. She adored limelight and attention, Satoshi feared it. Satoshi preferred subtle isolation where people wouldn't pay attention to him, and she was terrified of being alone.

And there were other things she feared as well…

"Are you sure we're on the right street?' she asked, changing the subject abruptly. "It's awful dark, haven't they heard of streetlamps on this island?"

"I know." said Satoshi. "I think the tavern is just down this alley on the left."

"Are you sure?" said Alvida. "I don't remember going down an alley like this."

"Um….I'm pretty sure we did." said Satoshi, not sounding too sure of himself.

"Are we lost?" inquired Alvida.

"Um….no. Not really, I mean…"

"Hah!" laughed Alvida. "We're lost! How amusing!"

"We're not lost." said Satoshi, very unconvincingly.

"I don't care if we are." said Alvida.

"Not lost, are you?"

Alvida spun around at the sound of the unfamiliar voice to see shadowy figures at the end of the alleyway.

"Well, as a matter of fact we are." she said, cheerily. She knew she could easily handle a situation of everyday thieves, and was sure Satoshi as a Marine could as well. She could feel the cool metal of the pistol against her thigh and hoped she and Satoshi could handle the situation without a need of violence.

"If you would feel obliged to provide us with directions, we'll be on our way." said Satoshi calmly, and Alvida was pleased to note that he seemed only minimally concerned about the situation.

"Oh, we can give you directions." another voice said, from behind them. "For a bit of a…fee."

So they were up against more than one of them, Alvida thought to herself. She still felt that she and Satoshi could easily take on whoever these people were, she just prayed that she wouldn't have to use her pistol. Most well-meaning women didn't carry pistols in their garters, and a Marine would quickly pick up on that.

"Shouldn't it be common courtesy to aid passing civilians?" said Alvida coolly. "If you're not willing to help us out, then go the hell away."

Murmurs of discontent followed this statement, and Alvida could now here that they were up against even more than two.

"Show yourselves!" said Satoshi.

"Take it easy." Alvida whispered to him. The last thing she wanted to do was start a fight.

"So what the hell are you guys supposed to be anyway, _ninjas_ or something?" she sneered at the human figures she was just beginning to make out as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. "Really, get with the times. Aren't we living in the Golden Era of Piracy or something like that? And you guys are _ninjas_?"

Alvida suddenly found herself seized by a pair of strong arms and something sharp pushed against her throat.

"Let her go!" yelled Satoshi.

"You talk pretty big for a woman." her captor hissed in her ear. "I don't like bitches who talk back."

She felt the knife at her throat tighten.

Alvida laughed pleasantly.

"Go ahead." she said. "Cut my throat. See what happens."

"No Viola!" yelled Satoshi.

"Grab the brat." instructed the man holding her.

Alvida saw two figures move towards Satoshi. He spun expertly on the spot and laid one of them out with a strong kick. The other lunged for him but Satoshi grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back, forcing him to the ground. Alvida was rather impressed. Marines were taught well.

"Stop!" the man holding her yelled. "Make one more move and your pretty lady here will get it."

Satoshi froze, and immediately began to released the man he had pinned.

"Don't let him go Satoshi!" said Alvida, as the man staggered up.

"Shut your mouth you little slut." the man growled.

"You've got some nerve." Alvida hissed, her hand straying to the hem of her dress. "Calling me a slut, you _bastard_."

Alvida felt the knife push harder against her throat, and groped for the edge of her dress.

She saw out of the corner of her eye the man Satoshi had released had circled behind him and was raising a knife.

"SATOSHI!" she yelled. "Behind you!"

Satoshi turned, but wasn't quite fast enough. The man drove the knife into Satoshi's back and gave a scream of pain, before regaining himself and spinning around to kick the man, only not hard enough. He aimed a punch at Satoshi, ducked and countered with another kick, but missing.

Alvida felt the knife pushed into throat, and her captor cry out in shock.

"What the hell?" he cried, gaping at the knife. "What's wrong with your skin?"

"Told you to try slitting my throat." she said, as her hand closed around the handle of the pistol.

Alvida deftly tore the weapon free from the lace and aimed it backwards into the stomach of the man holding her, her finger pressed against the trigger.

The sound of the gunshot echoed through the alleyway. Alvida felt the man's hands go slack around her body and heard him fall to the ground behind her. Satoshi and his combatant both froze and gaped at her. The knife still protruded from Satoshi's back, and his shoulder was practically saturated with blood that was dripping steadily onto the ground.

Alvida shot straight at Satoshi's opponent. It hit him in the stomach and he staggered backwards and fell to the ground.

She shot another bullet point-blank into his stomach, and he screamed clutching at the dark red liquid soaking through his clothes. Alvida walked casually over to him, while Satoshi could only gape in stunned silence. She raised her foot, and brought it down into the open wound, sinking the heel of the shoe into the flesh.

"Attacking when your opponent's back is turned?" spat Alvida with disgust, looming over the man she had felled, as he stared up at her in horror. "There really is no honor among thieves, is there?"

She raised the pistol and aimed between his eyes.

"Satoshi, look away." she instructed.

Satoshi just stared at her.

"Viola…" he gasped. "You-You're going to kill him?"

Alvida sighed. As a Marine, Satoshi had been most likely been taught to capture rather than to kill. To have been responsible for ending someone's life at such a young age would have been scarring indeed.

She lowered her pistol.

"Not if you don't want me to." she said, turning to face him.

Satoshi stared at her, almost in terror, and then he swayed on and sunk to his knees.

Alvida quickly caught him around the middle before he completely collapsed. He was weak and close to fainting from loss of blood. She needed to act quickly.

The knife was lodged by his left shoulder blade. Gripping it with both hands, the wrenched the knife free in a mist of blood. Satoshi gave a gasp of pain, as a fresh stream of blood poured out from the wound.

"You're losing a lot of blood." said Alvida, examining the gash. "We need to get you back to the tavern."

She knew there'd be hell to pay, now that she'd blown her cover, but she wasn't about to leave Satoshi to bleed to death in the alley, Marine or not.

Cupping her hands beneath his legs and neck, Alvida managed to hoist Satoshi off the ground. She shuddered as his blood spilled over and soaked her hands, continued down the alley.

"No…put me down." Satoshi muttered incoherently. "I can…I can-"

"Don't talk." said Alvida, walking as quickly as she could, trying not to stagger under Satoshi's weight. He was certainly heavier than he appeared to be.

As she rounded the corner out of the alley, she saw to her relief that Satoshi had been right, and the tavern was just down the street.

She kicked the door open. The bar was pitch-black and completely deserted. She proceeded unsteadily up the flight of stairs, but she couldn't bring Satoshi into her room. But then again, did it really matter now? He practically knew she was some sort of criminal now, she couldn't hide that. But if Satoshi saw her mace she was as good as dead. It was her signature weapon, and would most likely be quickly recognized any experienced Marine.

"In my room…" Satoshi gasped out. "There…there are medical supplies…in my closet. Keys...my pocket."

Alvida breathed a sigh of relief as she retrieved the set of keys and slipped them into the lock.

She laid Satoshi down on the bed and quickly went to his closet. She rifled through various uniforms and casual clothes until she located a small white box.

Satoshi was still conscious, but barely. She pushed him into a sitting position and examined his back.

"Oh god, this is so deep." she said, looking at the gash. She opened the medical kit but could not find anything to properly clean the wound.

"Do you have anything we could use for sterilization?" asked Alvida desperately. "Something to disinfect it?"

Satoshi shook his head dazedly.

"I'll be right back." said Alvida, standing up. "Don't pass out."

She ran to her room and quickly retrieved a bottle of alcohol.

"Drink this." she said, thrusting the bottle at him.

"What is it?" he asked, looking at the tall bottle with a glazed mixture of confusion, his eyes sliding in and out of focus. Alvida could tell her was going delirious from loss of blood.

"Never mind, just drink it. You pass out if you don't." said Alvida. Before Satoshi could protest further, she forced the neck of the bottle into his mouth and tilted it down his throat.

He gagged and choked, but Alvida felt him swallow. Satisfied, she withdrew the bottle.

"What was that?" Satoshi gasped, still coughing.

"Brandy." said Alvida. "Pretty strong brandy at that too. You would have probably fainted otherwise. I'm using the rest of it to disinfect the wound."

She grudgingly remembered how many times she had served as Buggy's surgeon, and had to resort to using sake or other forms of alcohol for to sterilize injuries.

"This is going to burn like hell." she cautioned, the bottle poised over Satoshi's wound. "Actually, you'd better take off your shirt. I can't see the wound clearly."

"No!" said Satoshi suddenly, spinning around and keeping her from reaching his back. "I'll be fine! Really, I'm alright."

"Satoshi, just take your shirt off." said Alvida. "I can't stitch the wound closed or bandage it either if you leave it on."

"I can't take it off." he said, shaking his head vigorously. "I...just can't."

Alvida sighed, her hand tensing on the bottle.

"Satoshi," she said impatiently. "You are bleeding very badly. This is no time to be modest. I'm sure you have a _lovely_ chest. You're Marine for goodness sake. Just take off your shirt so I can clean the wound!"

"No!" Satoshi protested still. "I'll…I'll be fine! Please, I can't take it off."

"Satoshi." said Alvida in extreme annoyance, taking hold of his sleeve. "Take the damn shirt off."

Satoshi shook his head stubbornly, practically shaking as he looked back at her.

In her frustration, Alvida yanked on the sleeve she was holding. The shirt ripped from where the knife had torn it and came off. Satoshi shrank away, keeping his back from her view.

"Satoshi," said Alvida, her grip on the bottle becoming vice-like. _"Show me your back."_

Satoshi just stared back at her, his wide with a look of absolute terror.

"Satoshi," said Alvida, trying to contemplate why Satoshi was so afraid. "Why can't you show me your back? What is it? I'm trying to help you."

Slowly and reluctantly, Satoshi hung his head and turned his back to her.

Alvida gasped aloud in shock. The sake bottle dropped from her hand and shattered on the floor.

"Satoshi…" she began, but couldn't finish.

Hideous purple-grey scars were gouged across his back, grotesquely mutilated and misshapen. Pieces of flesh had practically been carved right out of his back leaving jagged and poorly healed gaps of skin. Though they were obviously old wounds, they still seemed so disgustingly swollen and disfigured that they could have been a recent injury. It looked something out of a freak show, and Alvida had never seen anything so gruesome and painful.

"Satoshi." she managed to say. "What…How did this happen?"

"It…it's nothing." said Satoshi, keeping his face averted. "It was ages ago, I was just a boy."

"Satoshi, how did this happen?" asked Alvida, unable to tear her eyes from the horrifying sight.

"It was an accident." said Satoshi unconvincingly. "I…I fell."

"You fell?" said Alvida incredulously. "That's ridiculous."

Satoshi gave no answer. He looked away, his eyes glassy.

"Satoshi," said Alvida, still gaping at the blacked and mottled scars where chunks of flesh had been ripped and torn away. "You cannot expect me to believe this was an accident. Someone _did _this to you."

She took him by the shoulders and forced him to look at her. His eyes were red and swollen as they stared back into hers in humiliation and shame.

"Satoshi," Alvida said. "_Who_ did this to you?"

The tears he had tried to control welled up and spilled over. He pulled himself from Alvida's arms, his body trembling with sobs.

"She was pirate."


	7. Confessions

**Here's Chapter 7. Not much to say, other than the fact that I still don't own One Piece, which I'm sure you all know by now. The story slows back down a bit this chapter, sorry about that, but I appreciate you hanging with me until the real stuff starts happening. **

* * *

"_The service and loyalty I owe, in doing it pays itself…  
By doing everything safe toward your love and honor."  
-Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 4._

Coby had only vague recollections of the previous night. He easily remembered the play, the walk home, and encountering the thieves in the alley.

He had been stabbed in the back by one of them, and Viola had been held hostage. But then she had calmly withdrawn a pistol and effortlessly shot her captor, and his own attacker. She would have killed him too, had he not intervened.

Why on earth had she been carrying a pistol, of all things? And how did she know to use it so expertly? And how could she be so nonchalant about killing?

And yet another phenomenon, why had her captor been unable to kill her? Viola had remained completely calm, almost amused despite the knife the man had held at her throat. And he had seen the knife pressed hard enough into her throat to have killed an ordinary woman, and yet she had laughed. Viola must have known the man wouldn't be able kill her, but how?

Concealing firearms on her person, and invulnerable to weapons? What kind of woman was she? What was she hiding from him?

The rest of his thoughts were scattered, only bits of memory here and there. He had been delirious and close to fainting from blood loss, which was probably why he couldn't remember much.

Viola had wanted to cleanse the wound, after carrying him back to the tavern. He hadn't wanted her to see his back. He had tried all he could to keep her from seeing the mutilated scars marring his back, but in the end she had saw them after all. And then he had cried out of shame and humiliation.

He couldn't remember much after that. He remembered her voice, the burning sensation as the alcohol saturated through the wound, and more pain in his shoulder. And then he had woken up in his room, his shoulder heavily bandaged and with four stitches in the gash.

Coby just didn't understand. Who was Viola? He could no longer convince himself of her innocence. She wasn't an ordinary traveler; there was something uncertain, and possibly dangerous about her.

He knew he had to confront her. He couldn't make himself believe that she wasn't a pirate.

Coby dressed and crossed to the door, where there was a note slipped under the crack.

_I wish to speak with you in regards to the events of last night. I am downstairs._

_Viola._

* * *

"_Well tell me know, what lady is the same,  
To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage,  
That you today promised to tell me of?  
-The Merchant of Venice, Act 1, Scene 1._

"So what have you found out?"

"I don't like spying on Coby, Admiral sir. He's my friend."

"Then you should be concerned for him, as am I."

"But I don't understand _why_ we should be concerned."

"Think about it Helmeppo." said Admiral Garp, reclining back in his chair. "Ordinary and proper women don't try and hit themselves up with teenaged boys."

"I don't think she's like that!" said Helmeppo. "Coby can tell the difference between an ordinary woman and a hooker."

"But what about a pirate?" said Garp, raising an eyebrow.

"A pirate?" repeated Helmeppo incredulously. "You honestly believe this woman could be a pirate?"

"I'm not condemning her of anything just yet." said Garp. "Let's see this sketch you brought me."

Helmeppo reluctantly handed over the drawing.

"It's only a rough figure." he said. "I only saw her briefly from a distance, and ended up drawing most of it from memory. So it might not be completely accurate." he added quickly.

Garp surveyed the drawing, and then calmly crossed to a filing cabinet. He opened a drawer and shuffled through a few papers before pulling out a thick file which he tossed onto the table at Helmeppo.

"Look at the information, and compare the drawing." said Garp.

Helmeppo gaped at the photographs of the slim, attractive, long-haired woman. The shots were taken in cameo, her face turned away from the camera, but her stature and appearance was almost identical to his sketch.

"This is impossible." said Helmeppo, in shock. "Who is this woman?"

"She's a pirate."

* * *

"You're a pirate, aren't you?"

Viola looked away.

"I figured you'd find out eventually." she said. "I don't know how I convinced myself that you might not. But you were suspicious from the start, I could tell."

"Have you eaten some sort of devil fruit?" Coby inquired. "That knife-"

"-couldn't break my skin." Alvida finished. "You're right about that too. The fruit I ate protects my skin from physical attacks.

Coby's mind was scattered now. He had tried to convince himself of her innocence, and that she _wasn't_ a pirate, and yet _she_ had admitted the truth herself.

But she had practically saved his life. She could have easily left him to bleed to death in the alley last night, and yet she didn't.

"Are you going to turn me in?" Viola asked, her deep green eyes boring into his. There was a slight tremor of anxiety in her voice, but there was something stronger beneath it. It was a like a challenge. Did he have the nerve to betray her?

He had indeed fallen for her, but what did he choose? His career and duty as a Marine, and his sense of justice? Or that other power and sense that was his mind, heart and emotion?

"I don't know." Coby managed to say.

They were both quiet, Coby's mind racing back and forth between justice and emotion. Which did he choose?

"Those scars on your back." Viola murmured, breaking the long silence. "You said they were given to you by a pirate. Is that why you're a Marine? Do you want…"

She paused, chewing her lip with apprehension.

"Revenge?"

Revenge. That was something Coby wanted very much indeed. But it was _his_ _own_ burden and cross to bear, his own secret and humiliation, and something he would not trouble others with.

"I don't want to talk about it." Coby said, a bit too firmly. "It was a long time ago, and I want to forget about it."

Viola nodded gravely, and Coby could see that she understood and wouldn't press the matter further.

But it was such a strange coincidence. To meet another female pirate, and come to know her in such a different way.

He again stared at Viola, her green eyes, and long black hair…

_No. _It was impossible. His mind was already spilling over in confusion at the situation, and now it was simply playing tricks on him. They couldn't possibly be the same person. Viola was beautiful and stunning, not at all like, _her. _

But as he looked at her again, there was something hauntingly familiar about her…something he couldn't quite place. It was as if he'd known her in some sort of "former life" as a completely different person.

"Viola," Coby began. "Why…why would you go out of your way to make yourself familiar with a boy like me, when you knew I was a Marine, and you're a pirate?"

Viola stared off into space, her brow furrowed as if trying to contemplate a difficult equation.

"I was lonely." she said finally. "And you seemed so innocent. Someone who wouldn't judge me. All I had wanted was someone to talk to. I didn't care if you were a Marine. I just wanted someone ordinary to talk to, who'd treat me like an ordinary person back. You would too, if you'd ended up aligning yourself with a crew as bad as the one I'm stuck with." she added with a melancholy laugh. "They treat me like I'm an object."

She stared off again, her eyes taking on that glassy wistful look.

"I was just feeling so washed up, and tired of everything." she said quietly. "And then you just walked in, with your uniform and your book, and there was just something about you that struck me. I just wanted a conversation. I never thought we'd end up having one like this, but coincidence made it so that we'd see each other again, and you ended up turning into something I had wished for even more."

She paused, taking a deep breath.

"A friend."

Coby could only listen to her narrative in rapture, as his thoughts continued their restless tumult. Just who was Viola?

"I feel like I've met you somewhere before," she continued. "But somehow …differently. It's like you were a different person, and so was I. Like some sort of former life. I don't understand it."

Coby couldn't believe what he was hearing. She felt almost exactly as he did. As if they had somehow known each other from a long time ago, only much differently. Did he and Viola know each other and not realize it?

"I never thanked you for saving my life" Coby said quietly.

Viola smiled at him.

"I never thanked you for the wonderful evening." she said, beaming at him.

He raised his hand, and ever so slowly reached across the table to place it on top of hers.

He knew what his choice was.

"I will not turn you in." he said. "Because you have also been, a friend."

* * *

"Is there any possible way we might be wrong sir?" asked Helmeppo, gazing at hopelessly at the overwhelming evidence before him.

"These pictures are slightly outdated." said Garp. "They were taken back in Loguetown during that incident involving that grandson of mine."

"But what kind of pirate would go out of their way to associate themselves with a Marine?" demanded Helmeppo. "If she is a pirate, she can't be a very bright one."

"You don't know what kind of woman she is." said Garp. "Romance is all just a little game for her. She seduces men just for kicks, it's her idea of fun. She'll just lead whoever she feels like blindly along until she gets tired of playing with them. She probably just saw Coby at the tavern and though of him as an easy target or a new plaything. And can you blame Coby for falling for her? That devil fruit she's eaten has made her practically incomparable. If I'd have stationed you at that tavern instead of Coby, she'd have cozened up to your good side and you'd have fallen for her just the same."

"I somehow doubt that." said Helmeppo. Something wasn't quite right to him. Helmeppo knew Coby was smart enough not to just fall for any good-looking woman in a bar, and he could recognize a prostitute.

But when he'd read the name on the wanted poster Garp had produced from the file, he realized that she wasn't an ordinary female pirate, at least not to Coby. Coby had mentioned her once, only briefly, but all the same…

_"If you hadn't jumped out of the barrel on that day Luffy, I'd probably still be taking care of chores on Alvida's ship and sucking up to her."_

Helmeppo didn't completely understand what sort of 'past' Coby might have had with this woman, or if he even realized the woman he had fallen for was the same person.

"This news is not only going to be confusing, but devastating to Coby." said Helmeppo desperately. "How are we supposed to tell him?"

"Tell me what?"

Helmeppo and Garp turned to see Coby standing in the doorway, looking bewildered.

"Sit down Coby." said Garp casually. "There's something we need to tell you."


	8. A Rose By Any Other Name?

**Hi. It's chapter 8. I'd like to note that due to the fact that Coby's going experiencing some intense emotional trauma, (in other words...ANGST) he's going ever so slightly OOC. But I mean, wouldn't you be going a little OOC too? Seriously…look at what the poor kid's going through. Okay, just wanted to clarify that.**

**Oda-sensei gave me the rights to One Piece…yeah…haha, I wish. **

**Enjoy. **

* * *

"_We are not ourselves when nature, being oppressed,  
Commands the mind to suffer with the body."  
King Lear, Act 2, Scene 5._

Alvida was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Could she, or couldn't she trust Satoshi? It was such a confusing and dangerous situation to be in.

She could go back to Buggy's ship and spend the remainder of the time there, leaving Satoshi to wonder where she had gone, but that option didn't exactly appeal to her.

But Satoshi now knew so much about her. What if he discovered her identity through his sources as a Marine, and the temptation of the price on her head was too great?

And then there were those hideous scars on his back. That boy had a past history with piracy, one he wasn't going to admit, and probably a kept secret from his officers too.

It was so hard to think right now…could she really trust a Marine? She didn't even know Satoshi's name. He had promised that he wouldn't turn her in, because she was his friend. But she couldn't shake this uneasy feeling. She had gone and poured out all her odd feelings to Satoshi, and now greatly regretted it. She'd opened herself up, and now he could exploit her weaknesses if he wanted to.

She was so confused. Alvida couldn't even tell how she felt about Satoshi anymore. She reached for the large bottle of liquor on her dresser, and drank heavily. She's had an awful lot to drink since her discussion with Satoshi that morning.

She stood up, staggering slightly, to retrieve more sake from her closet.

Her eyes fell into the mirror as she passed.

_"So you think befriending this boy will atone for your sins with that other child?" _her other self crooned back at her. _"Do you think this is some sort of penance, to clear your conscience?"_

Alvida's eyes fell upon her mace, lying by her closet.

"_Please don't hurt me!"_

"_Don't hurt you? You think all of your pleading and tears are going to stop me? You make me sick Coby."_

"My god." Alvida murmured, clutching a hand to her chest.

Those scars on his back…

"_She was a pirate."_

"_My, how similar they are."_ the mirror whispered. _"Him and Satoshi? How very strange indeed."_

"SHUT UP!" Alvida screamed, hurling the bottle of sake at the mirror. They both shattered in a violent cascade of glass.

Satoshi and Coby? Was one the other?

"No." Alvida said to herself, pulling her eyes away from the spiked weapon by her closet. "That's…that's impossible."

* * *

"_The private wound is deepest.  
O time most accurst!  
Mongst all foes that a friend should be the worst!"  
-Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 5, Scene 4. _

"_Coby, Helmeppo and I have found discovered something…"_

"…_it's this woman that you befriended…"_

Coby stood staring at her door. Just staring at it. He had never walked so slowly, as he had made his way back to the tavern.

How could it be possible?

How had she managed to play such a role for him? She had been sweet, affectionate, even kind. A completely different person.

Was she completely unaware of his identity as well? Did she not realize who he was, oblivious to his identity just as he had been to hers?

How had she changed so much from whom he knew before, in more ways than physical appearance?

His mind was reeling with sickening questions. He wanted to scream, cry and throw himself at the solid wood of the door in front of him. The only thing keeping him from the quarry that had eluded him for ages.

It was so agonizing to know that the woman you hated, and the woman you loved…were the same person.

He kept staring at her door, and then on a sudden impulse, turned and flung the door to his own room open, before slamming it behind him.

Coby stormed through his small chamber in a rage, overturning the nightstand and the lamp and hurling the pillows of the bed across the room.

He stopped only a moment to pause at the books by his bed. He carefully reached down and picked up the well worn copy of _Romeo and Juliet._ Their conversation floated back into his mind.

"_I mean, if you want star crossed lovers that die, Romeo and Juliet certainly fits the category."_

_"But everyone knows Romeo and Juliet! Two teenagers fall in love, their parents don't agree, it leads to conflict, and they die! It's dreadfully cliché."_

_"Cliché? You think Romeo and Juliet is cliché? It's a classic! One of his best! There's a good reason for it being his most well-known!"_

On a whim, he opened the book and opened to a page at random.

_'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;  
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.  
What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,  
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part  
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!  
What's in a name? That which we call a rose  
By any other name would smell as sweet;_

Coby slammed the book shut. _A rose by any other name._ Yes, he was familiar with that particular quote. No matter what you call a rose, it's still a rose. No matter what she called herself, be it 'Viola' or whatever, she could not change who she was.

And how could he have not known who she was?

How could he have possibly been in love with her?

He hurled the book across the room, where it shattered into the mirror. Flinging the other various items the dresser, he pulled off his shirt to stare at the scars on his back.

They looked even more grotesque and deformed in the cracked mirror.

And then there was the row of stitches, neatly sewn into his left shoulder.

There were the scars she had given him, and the one she had healed.

But which overruled the other?

Which was he supposed to choose?


	9. Something Important

**I'd like to notify everyone that the rating will go up next chapter. While the events of Chapter 10 are not really worth being rated M, it is when the story begins to finally hit its climax, and the practically non-existent violence of now will begin to escalate greatly. Make sense? Basically, once you hit Chapter 10 it's when the violence level picks up and we start having some real drama and angst, and we only get more from then onward. Say goodbye to innocent Satoshi and playful Viola. Muahaha….**

**I'm running out of creative ways to tell you that I still don't own One Piece. **

* * *

"_She is troubled with thick coming fancies that keep her from rest."  
-Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 3._

Alvida lay awake, staring at the ceiling. There was a funny little series of cracks, that kind of twisted around into what looked somewhat like a whale. Alvida imagined it swimming through the ocean, eating krill and making its funny little whale noises as it swam along without a care in the world.

"_God, I'm going crazy."_ she thought to herself. _"Imagining there are whales swimming around on the ceiling."_

It was very late and she couldn't sleep. She wanted to tell herself she could trust Satoshi, but was still so worried. Could she trust such an impressionable boy with such a secret? Especially when he was a Marine?

She still contemplated the option of returning to Buggy's ship, but that was not something she particularly wanted to do.

And there was that odd misgiving that kept gnawing at the back of her mind. What her mirror had told her seemed to be slipping in an out of her thoughts.

Satoshi and Coby?

Was one the other?

But she dismissed the idea, every time it tried to enter her thoughts. She was tired and confused, and her mind was merely playing tricks on her. There was no way that Satoshi was Coby.

She sat up with a sigh and took a long drink from the bottle of liquor on her nightstand. It was her seventh bottle of the day. She needed to cut back on the drinking, but she just couldn't shake the uneasy, almost fearful feeling.

She picked up the large volume of _Hamlet_ on her dresser and flipped idly to a page.

"_Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer  
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,  
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles  
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep."_

The mind to suffer…that was something her mind truly did very often. And now as well it seemed more than ever. It suffered with the fear and guilt she was feeling, and her indecisiveness to trust. So did she oppose her mind's suffering? Or allow herself to surrender to…to what? Sleep? Death? Insanity?

She had just taken another drink of the alcohol, when to her surprise she heard a knock on her door. Who would be calling at such a late hour? Was it Satoshi? What did he want?

She crossed to the door, and reluctantly opened it.

* * *

"_For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright,  
Who art as black as hell and dark as night."  
-Sonnet 147._

She opened the door when he knocked. She looked awfully tired in the dim light, her eyes slightly red and rimmed with dark circles. She was wearing nothing but light, rosemary dressing gown, styled like a short kimono. Her hair was loosely done up in a pair of ornamental hair sticks, curls of jet-black hair falling haphazardly from the knot at the back of her head.

She yawned, surveying him with bewilderment.

"It's the middle of the night, Satoshi." she said, poorly stifling another yawn. "Are you alright? Do you need something?"

Coby stared into her dark green eyes, looking back into his with concern.

"I need to tell you something." he said, in as steady of a voice as he could manage. "Something important."

"Go ahead." she replied reassuringly.

"Not here." said Coby. "I want to go someplace else. Is that alright?"

"It can't wait until morning?" she murmured, a tremor of uneasiness pass through her features.

Coby shook his head.

She sighed, good-naturedly.

"Alright then." she said, smiling patiently. "Just let me change my clothes, or put on a shawl or something before we leave, I'll just-"

"You don't need to." said Coby cut in. "You'll be fine like that. It doesn't matter. Just please come. It has to be now."

She seemed a bit taken aback by his abrupt interruption, but gave a sigh of exaggerated patience, followed by another yawn.

"Alright, alright." she said again. "Just take me where you want to go."

He reached out, and trying not to shudder, took hold of her hand. The hallway was nearly pitch-black, as he pulled her down the stair, his mind reeling.

This woman, that he was holding onto to…was she really?

Coby told himself, that he would have to see, how these events would unfold themselves.

So Satoshi wanted to talk to her. _Why_ he wanted to talk to her, and _why_ he insisted on going someplace else Alvida was too sleepy and slightly too drunk to comprehend. What on earth could he have to tell her that was so secretive it couldn't wait until morning, and required Satoshi to drag her out of the tavern in the middle of the night?

But when he had taken her hand, it wasn't a gentle grasp, more like a vice-like grip. His hand was cold, and she could feel his palm sweating, as it locked around her wrist.

"Satoshi," she asked. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Fine." he answered in a voice that told otherwise. "Just fine."

He pulled her down the stairs and through the unlit downstairs of the deserted bar. Alvida stumbled over a chair in the darkness. Satoshi gave no sign that he had noticed. He simply continued to pull her along out the door and into the street.

"Satoshi," Alvida murmured, shivering as her bare knees knocked together. "It's rather cold out here. I'm not really wearing much underneath this robe."

She was ignored. If Satoshi had heard, he gave no sign or indication otherwise. He rounded a corner and Alvida found herself led into the small back alley where they had been attacked.

"Why…?" she began, looking around anxiously at the alleyway Satoshi had led her to. A chill ran up her spine.

"Why are we here?"


	10. The Revelation

**Hey there! This chapter's a decent length so I hope it makes up for my two previous shorter ones. **

**As you can see, the rating has indeed gone up. As I stated in Chapter 9, the events in this chapter are not really worth being M rated, but the level of violence and such will only go up from here, so therefore I thought it best to introduce the rating early. (Yeah…that makes no sense.)**

**Poor Coby is walking further and further down the path called OOC. My apologies to any Coby fans who might be reading this.**

**And on a very special note, a very favorite character of mine makes a small appearance towards the end of the chapter! (If you're familiar with my other stories you'll probably know who he is, as being his fangirl I just had to give him a small part in this story.) **

**I don't own One Piece. I couldn't think of anything creative to say. Sorry.**

* * *

"_Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand.  
Blood and revenge are hammering in my head."  
-Titus Andronicus, Act 2, Scene 3._

She was nervous, if not afraid. Coby could sense it.

She stood there, staring at him, waiting for an answer.

"Satoshi, why are we here?" she repeated, the apprehension in her voice evident.

Coby chose not to answer this inquiry directly.

"I need to talk to you." he simply said.

"About _what?_ What is it Satoshi?" she asked, the note of desperation in her voice now very pronounced. "_What_ do you need to ask me? _What_ is so important?"

"Do you know who I am?" Coby said, blatantly.

She stared at him, in puzzlement, evidently taken aback by the question.

"Who you are?" she repeated, her brow furrowed with confusion. "What do you mean? You're a Marine, and you -"

"But do you know _exactly_ who I am?" Coby cut in, staring at her, his nails digging into his clenched palms. "Do you know…"

He paused.

"Do you know my name?"

She stared at him in bewilderment, anxiety etched across her features.

"I _don't_ actually know your name." she said finally. "I mean, you told me to call you Satoshi, since you're stationed at this town as a Marine. So you never told me your real name."

"So you don't know who I am?"

She stared at him, her eyes scanning desperately over him, as if seeking out some sort of answer.

"No Satoshi, I…I suppose I don't."

Coby could here the desperate honesty in her voice. She wasn't lying. She had no idea she was staring at the boy she had abused and hated, for two years.

It was strange, to see her like this.

Her strangely beautiful complexion marred by worry. Her arms wrapped around her body, shivering in the cold. She seemed, so vulnerable.

"Is that what you wanted to tell me?" she asked, her teeth beginning to chatter slightly in the cold. "Your name?"

"Not quite." said Coby, his insides churning with emotion.

She stared at him, in complete incomprehension. To see the desperation in her eyes, her face, made Coby's inside's churn with emotion. He wanted to scream and lash out at her with all the anger she had been the source of for years.

"Then what is it?" she asked.

"I know who you are." Coby said simply.

She stared at him.

"I don't understand." she murmured.

"I know who you are." Coby repeated. "You're a pirate, but I knew that, you told me this afternoon. But you're not just any pirate, at least not to me. You're the one I've been searching for. For ages you eluded me, but now you're here. You have no idea who I am, but I know who _you_ are. It's rather complicated, don't you think"

She was backing away from him, her expression an odd mixture of confusion and fear.

"Satoshi, are you alright?" she said, quietly, staring at him with concern and apprehension.

"Oh no, it's not Satoshi." said Coby. "You know who I am, you just don't realize it. You don't recognize me, but I didn't recognize you either. How strange, that I should become attracted to the very woman I'd hated all my life. Rather like _Twelfth Night_? A romance of mistaken identities?"

She looked positively horrified, and Coby, somewhere between the driving feelings of revenge felt a twinge of guilt, at his torment and manipulation. It was so unlike him.

He ignored it.

"_We know each other._" he said quietly, to her astonished countenance. "You said yourself that you felt as though you'd known me before, as a different person. I felt the same way. Little did we know that we weren't imagining it. We _do_ know each other…"

He paused, trying to summon his courage.

"Don't you know me?_"_ he murmured. "Don't you know who I am, _Lady Alvida?_

"Well done Coby."

Coby turned to see Admiral Garp at the end of the alley.

"I was pleased that you decided to put the greater good for justice above any silly romantic fancies you might have." he announced, striding towards them.

"Coby?" said Alvida, staring at him in complete incomprehension. "You…you're Coby?"

Coby looked away, unable to meet her stare.

"That's enough talk." Garp cut in. "You will proceed with us back to our ship stationed at the west harbor. Should you refuse to comply we will not hesitate to use force."

Coby watched in surprise as several forms seemed to materialize out of the shadows, all holding long rifles.

"You _coward._" snarled, now regaining her composure. "You _damn coward._ So it is you, isn't it? Coby? How long has it been now? You haven't changed one bit. You always were a coward. It takes real guts to stab someone in the back, doesn't it?"

"Don't call me a coward!" Coby yelled, lunging for her, but Garp him back.

"Shut up woman!" one of the Marines surrounding her yelled, jabbing his rifle closer.

"Go ahead, shoot me." she spat. "It won't do you any good."

Coby stared as her fierce green eyes locked themselves into his, and no matter how he tried he couldn't look away.

"Who'd have thought that such a worthless piece of shit like you could have actually become a Marine." she taunted. "They must have really lowered their standards to let someone as useless as you in."

"SHUT UP!" Coby yelled, fighting Garp's grasp. If Garp would only let him go, just for a moment…

"That's enough out of you!" said Garp to Alvida. "Now gentlemen." he added with a nod at the Marine's surrounding her.

Two of them seized her arms and attempted to force them behind her back.

"Don't touch me you bastards!" she screamed, her wrists easily slipping out of their grip, as she spun on the spot and slashed one of them across the face with her nails.

With a cry of pain he back off, with blood dripping down his face, but Alvida was quickly set upon by the rest of the small squadron.

Coby watched in sick fascination, as despite the advantage of her smooth body, the Marines managed to force her to the ground. The little sticks holding her hair place fell to the ground with a soft clatter and her long hair spilled across her face in tangled curls.

"You coward!" she screamed, still fighting madly. "You bastard coward!" But beneath the rage in her voice, Coby thought for a moment that he heard pain. Her screams were suddenly cut off with a horrible choking noise as one of the Marines pulled a thick piece of rope across her mouth, effectively gagging her.

Another managed to grab her flailing arms and force them into a heavy-looking pair of seastone cuffs. Her breaths became shallow and forced, and Coby could see the instantaneous effects of the seastone, despite her struggles.

"Her skin's vulnerable now." one of the Marines said. "Someone knock her out."

One of them produced a long syringe and jabbed it into her neck. Her eyes widened in a terrifying expression of pain and shock. She let out a horribly strangled and muted scream, like an animal bleating in pain for one agonizing moment as her whole body seemed to spasm, before it shuddered and went limp, her eyes closed.

"What did you do to her?" Coby managed to say, staring in horror at her slack, beautiful features. Blood was dripping out of her mouth from where the rope had cut into it and was forming a dark pool on the cobblestones. "You didn't…"

"Oh no, she's not dead." said one of them. "She's just unconscious. "There would have been no way we could have possibly brought her back to the ship without drugging her the way she was fighting."

"What a bitch." said the Marine, Alvida had struck across the face, as he wiped blood out of her eyes. "And she calls herself 'Lady'? That's a good one."

Coby watched as one of the Marines unceremoniously hoisted Alvida's limp body over his shoulder as if she were nothing more than a piece of luggage, instead of an actual person.

"She weighs practically nothing!" the Marine chuckled. "Admiral, we can head back now. Four of us will stay behind and search her room."

"Um…Admiral sir?" Coby ventured.

"Oh what? Sorry, must have dozed off." said Garp. "Yes, of course. Bring anything of interest back for examination."

He hit Coby on the back affectionately, making him lurch forward.

"Well done Coby." he said casually, as if Coby had just passed a rather difficult test, rather than betraying a woman he had taken to be a friend. "Keep this up and you'll be an admiral in no time."

"Yes sir." said Coby automatically. He was lost in thought.

Had he done the right thing?

Wasn't he supposed to feel happy? This was the moment of justice he had been waiting for. Shouldn't he feel proud, that he had brought Alvida to justice? What he had strove for as a Marine? His goal in life, to bring Lady Alvida to justice.

And yet he felt nothing like he had expected. It was a strange mixture of anger, shame, and guilt. And his mind failed to comprehend why he felt this way.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Helmeppo's. Coby hadn't even noticed he had been there.

"Hey." he murmured. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Coby lied, in a voice he barely recognized as his own. "Just fine."

* * *

"_Men's vows are women's traitors."  
-Cymbeline, Act 3, Scene 4._

Alvida awoke slowly, her head aching and her body weakened and numb. The side of her neck throbbed and stung where she had been injected with the narcotics. She felt dizzy and sick, with the acrid metallic taste of blood pooled up against the rope in her mouth. Her hands were weighed down by a pair of heavy pair of seastone cuffs that had already chafed her wrists raw and cut off the circulation. Blood was running down her hands and felt cold and sticky between her deadened fingers.

She squinted against the darkness to try and find her bearings. She had not the faintest idea of where she was. She felt like she must be inside of a ship, most likely the brig. The door was barred, with not the slightest trace of light from the outside.

It was cold. She curled herself up into a ball against the wall of the cell, shivering. It was dark, and devoid of any light, sound, or feeling.

"_To me isolation, is to be cut off from the world completely. Too be confined, with no other people to interact with, completely alone…that's what terrifies me."_

"_So you fear imprisonment?" _

"_Perhaps."_

Coby.

He _had_ been Satoshi.

And he had betrayed her.

And now she was completely, alone.

* * *

"What happened? Where is she?"

"Captain, I…"

"What did you see Cabaji?"

Cabaji sat down opposite of Buggy, and buried his face in his hands.

"There was nothing I could do." he said. "You told me to keep a watch on her, but there was no way I could have stopped them without…I couldn't…"

"What happened Cabaji?"

Cabaji looked up, unable to meet his captain's eyes.

"She's gone." he said. "They took her."


	11. The Afterthoughts

**Sorry for not posting a second time during last week. I discovered the presence of a couple viruses crunching their way through my computer and needed to sort those out. However I will be posting less frequently from now on. **

**The plot gets worse, for everyone. Next chapter Coby is going to peak at his OOC behavior and then he'll tone down a bit. **

**To BlueRyuu...the cabbage joke was **_**not funny.**_** I'm serious.**

**If I owned One Piece, Alvida would have shown up again in the series by now, and she would have totally ditched Buggy and gone and made her own crew with a certain other character who made a cameo last chapter.**

* * *

_Is it her fault or mine?  
The tempter or the tempted,  
Who sins the most?  
-Measure for Measure, Act 2, Scene 2._

Coby was sitting with Helmeppo in Garp's cabin. Helmeppo looked somber, but Coby wasn't paying attention.

Had he done the right thing?

Of course he had. He had succeeded in overcoming her, and after all she had done to him. And he wasn't the only victim of her crimes of piracy. And now after so long, he had brought her to justice.

So why did he feel so guilty?

"Coby, are you sure you're alright?" Helmeppo asked tentatively.

"Don't talk to me." said Coby, cutting him off.

At that moment Admiral Garp strode in, followed by several of the officers Coby had enlisted in the aid of Alvida's capture, all of them carrying thick satchels.

Coby and Helmeppo both stood at attention until Garp motioned them to sit down.

"Have a look at this, both of you." said Garp. "We searched her room."

With a nod from Garp, the Marines proceeded to deposit their various items on the table. Several articles of clothing in shades of lavender, purple and pink; a rose-colored shawl patterned with hearts, delicates bottles of perfumes and cosmetics, and several large jewelry boxes that were spilling over with exquisite necklaces, pearls, charms and other ornaments. Typical items you would find in a woman's room.

"Over 100,000 beli worth in jewelry." said Garp with slight disdain. "_Only_ her jewelry."

And then there were her books, thrown carelessly onto the table. Romance novels, and large volumes of Shakespeare: _Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice, King Lear, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, Cymbeline, Pericles,_ and several other titles Coby on top of those, Coby recognized with a jolt the vivid scarlet dress she had worn on their night together.

But there was one item left to be produced.

The last of the Marines lifted a long and heavy-looking wrapped in canvas onto the table.

"It's damn heavy." he said. "I don't know how a skinny little bitch like her could even move it."

He pulled the canvas off the object to reveal a long spiked club, its silver tips shining dully in the dim light.

Coby's insides lurched automatically at the sight of the weapon. The scars on his back seemed to needle with pain. How many times had he been struck by it? It was an object he had come to equivocate with fear, pain and punishment.

"Do you need anymore proof that we've got the right woman?" asked Garp, addressing Helmeppo. "You saw what was in her file. She matches the description and your sketch, and we've got her trademark weapon right here."

He ran a hand over the long, polished handle of the mace.

"Wait! That's not all we found Admiral!" cried one Marine who had just entered.

He deposited his items on the table. "Over fourteen cases of rum, wines and sake!" he announced proudly, gesturing at the dozens of exquisite bottles of alcohol. "And it's not cheap stuff either! I've never seen so much liquor crammed into one closet. The woman's a bloody alcoholic!"

"Can we drink it Admiral, sir?" one of the Marines asked, making a poor job of trying not to sound too eager. "We won't drink all of it, just as a bit of…celebration?"

"I suppose." said Garp. "But I will not tolerate drunkenness aboard my ship. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir!"

"It better be." said Garp. "And you can leave a few bottles here, I'll…look after them."

Coby was still staring at the table, lost in thought. _Why_ did he feel so guilty? _Why_ did he feel regretful? He had waited his whole life for this, and yet…

She had been his friend. There was no way he could possibly deny that. She had been his friend. And he had promised, that as her friend, he would guard her secret of piracy. She had trusted him.

But that was before, he had realized who she was.

"Coby, Helmeppo." said Garp, as the last of the Marine's left. "You can join them if you want, or you may return to your posts within the town for the rest of the night if you wish."

Helmeppo nodded in acknowledgment, while Coby gave no response.

"I shall see you in the morning then." said Garp, opening the door for them to leave. I shall notify the World Government of the arrest, and then I have certain…business to attend to."

"Business, yeah right." muttered Helmeppo to Coby once they had left the cabin. "He probably means getting wasted on the sake they left behind."

Coby said nothing. His mind didn't seem to want to function. His feelings seemed to be in a state of numbed shock, and he still couldn't understand it.

"Hey Coby, are you sure you're okay?" asked Helmeppo, as they walked across the deck. "I can tell you're upset. You were friends with that woman. You had no idea she was -"

"A pirate." said Coby, finding his voice again and cutting Helmeppo off. "She was a pirate. And not just any pirate."

"But what did she do to you?" asked Helmeppo. "I don't understand. You mentioned her name, back in Enies Lobby when you were talking with Luffy, but I -"

"It's none of your business what she's done to me, Helmeppo." said Coby, clenching his fists. "Come on, let's just go downstairs."

All the Marines who had been present at Alvida's capture were downstairs, most of them half-drunk already.

"Look who it is!" cried one of them, jumping up as Coby and Helmeppo entered the room. The Marines cheered in response.

"Sit down Coby!" said another, pushing him into a chair and thrusting a bottle of liquor into his hands. "After all, you're the one who got us all this booze!"

The Marines cheered drunkenly again. Coby just stared at the bottle. It felt cold and smooth against his hands. He remembered how she'd forced sake on him to keep him from passing out the night they had been attacked.

"Go on, have a drink." said one of the Marines. "It won't hurt you Coby."

Helmeppo shot Coby a wary glance. But Coby reluctantly tilted the bottle to his mouth and tasted the alcohol. Surprisingly, it made him feel rather warm and light inside. It was a pleasant feeling, and he took heart in it.

"So how does it feel to have captured a pirate worth 15 million beli?" asked one of the Marines. "I mean, it's not a huge bounty for the Grand Line, but still."

He spoke of her as if she were and object to simply make money off of, not a person. It made Coby feel even guiltier.

"Well it's quite impressive, considering you beat her at her own game." said another.

"What do you mean?" asked Coby.

"Well, she's more than your average ship-whore." the Marine continued, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, with her good looks, she just charms any men she pleases, and apparently she took you for an easy target. Evidently she didn't realize you had her all figured out, seeing as how you seduced her right out of her room in the middle of the night!"

"I didn't 'seduce' her." said Coby. "I just asked her to come and she did."

He felt angry, and cowardly at the same time. He had taken advantage of her trust and her friendship, to gain his ends. But then again, didn't she deserve it?

He had an urge to smash the bottle in his hands, to break something, anything, if only to vent what he was feeling. But instead, he took another drink for the bottle. He drank longer this time, allow the warmth to empty his thoughts, if only for a moment.

At that moment a few more Marines walked into the galley, and surveyed the scene with surprise.

"Hey, what's with all the booze?" one of them asked, perturbed.

"Courtesy of Coby's _acquaintance_, who's currently our guest." responded another, thumping Coby on the back and making him lurch forward.

"Really?' laughed one of the ones who had just walked in. "All this is hers? She must be an alcoholic or something."

He sat down amongst the others and seized a bottle from the table before tilting his head back and taking a long drink.

"Man, I needed that." he said. "I tell, you, that woman's a bitch. The three of us got stuck interrogating her, and all she does is swear at you. And she ate this devil fruit you know, it makes her skin really smooth, I forget what it's called…"

"The Sube-Sube no mi." said one of the Marines.

"Yeah, that's what it is. So anyway, supposedly nothing hurts her skin because of this damn fruit. But as long as you've got her exposed to seastone you can hurt her anyway you want. So we tried to take advantage of that, but we still didn't get anything out of her. She may be a bitch, but she's a damn stubborn one. I never heard a woman say so many filthy words in one sentence."

"And she calls herself a lady." one of them jeered.

"Though I must say." the on Marine continued, grinning broadly. "There's something rather satisfying about chaining up a woman."

The sailors roared with laughter. Coby felt sick. He turned to look at the officer and saw there were flecks of blood across his jacket. His stomach lurched with the realization. She was being abused and mistreated for the pirate she was, and it was all because of him.

But had she not been just as cruel to him? Did he not have scars to show for it?

The cut by his shoulder blade gave and odd twinge of pain. The one she had mended.

Coby's mind could not seem focus or understand. It was like she was two completely different people. And it confused and tormented him between guilt and hatred. He impulsively took another long drink of the sake, and too his surprise realized that he had finished the bottle.

"Here Coby, have some more." said one of the Marines, and Coby found himself handed another bottle of sake, which he gratefully began to drink.

"Coby, are you sure…" Helmeppo began.

"Shut up!" said Coby, become defensive. He was starting to feel oddly offensive and was not entirely sure why.

"Oh, there was one thing she did manage to say though." said the Marine thoughtfully, continuing his narrative. "Well, we asked her if she was traveling with any other pirates. There were records indicating that she had made some sort of alliance with another crew, but all we got out of her was 'I don't stab my friends in the back.'"

Coby choked on the sake.

"_You always were a coward. It takes real guts to stab someone in the back, doesn't it?"_

She was right of course; he had stabbed her in the back.

"Well, maybe Coby could work his seductive charms on her again." said another one of the Marines, with a wink at Coby "It worked once before Coby, maybe you should try and question her."

His voice sounded far away and distant to Coby. But the thought of facing her, after what he had done to her, was too much for his reeling mind to want to comprehend. He couldn't seem to focus and his thoughts seemed scattered across that hazy landscape of his mind.

He took another long drink of the sake. He finished the bottle even faster this time, and on impulse reached for yet another. There was something about the sake that seemed to empty his thoughts and dull his mind of feeling.

"Coby, don't you think you've had enough sa -" Helmeppo began.

"I told you to shut up!" snarled Coby. He couldn't understand why he felt so hostile towards Helmeppo, but there was something making him feel unnaturally angry and spiteful.

"So what do you think Coby?" said one of the officers, his voice sounding even further and even more distant than before. "Think you can _seduce_ a bit of information out of her? Find out who these friends she doesn't want us to know about are?"

"Huh?" said Coby, dazedly. His mind was complete fog. What were they talking about? Something about…

"Just go and talk to her." said a voice, from somewhere.

Talk to _her?_

_Her_. Yes…she was the reason he felt so dazed and angry. Wasn't she? After everything she had done to him. He'd always hated her. And now all he could feel was a strange desire to and lust to cause pain and to damage. He wanted to hurt something.

"Yeah, that sounds okay." said Coby, standing abruptly to his feet. The words that came out of his mouth sounded slurred and unrecognizable to him. He swayed on the spot as he stood, but managed to steady himself.

"Yeah." he said again. "I'll go talk to her now."

* * *

"_No sooner had they told this hellish tale,  
But straight they said they would bind me here,  
Unto the body of this dismal yew,  
And leave me to this miserable death.  
And then they called me 'foul adulteress,' 'lascivious Goth,'  
And all the bitterest terms that ever ear did hear to such effect."  
-Titus Andronicus, Act 2, Scene 3._

Everything seemed to hurt.

Alvida bit her bleeding lip and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the pains needling the lacerations and heavy bruises across her body. Her wrists were swollen and bloody, chafed raw from rope burn and the heavy seastone cuffs now fettering her wrists.

Alvida had always had high tolerance for pain, that was until she had eaten the Sube-Sube no mi. Physical pain had since then become a sensation her body had quickly forgotten due to the fruits abilities preventing her skin from harm. But she had been unaware, that as long as she was exposed to seastone, not only was her body weakened, but she could be harmed in any way possible; her skin was completely vulnerable.

And having been unfamiliar with the feeling of pain for quite some time, to have the sensation reintroduced so suddenly and harshly made it all the worse.

A trio of Marines had dragged her from the brig, shackled and tied her to a chair in a small room and shouted questions at her for nearly a half hour. Stupid questions. Like, what was she doing on this island, why was she associating herself with a Marine, had she even _known_ he was a Marine in the first place, and other completely idiotic inquisitions.

The Marines, very obviously dissatisfied with her answers, (most of them involving several words she'd learned from Cabaji and Mohji) had proceeded to torment her in whatever ways they found amusing for the remainder of the hour. It seemed that the Marines had few qualms about abusing a shackled and injured woman, as Alvida had soon discovered. They had begun with typical verbal abuse, calling her every variation of "whore" and "slut" that Alvida had ever heard and then some, but then grew bored and escalated to far more 'interesting' forms of cruelty. It had turned into a horrid game of who could "break the ship-whore" first.

Alvida had tried to endure everything they had done, swearing to herself she would not let them see how much pain she was in. But after her body had been repeatedly beaten, flogged, slapped, kicked, spat upon, and groped in almost every possible way, her willpower was unable to hold out. That moment had come after Alvida had found herself tied to a pole, and as two of the Marines held her thrashing body still, the third had raised a knife, and proceeded to cut off her hair.

It was at that point Alvida had lost all self-control. They had struck her vanity. She had burst into tears as the smirking Marine displayed the length of her thick raven black hair. Satisfied their "game" was over, the Marines had thrown her unceremoniously back into the brig, bleeding, bruised and sobbing.

It was so unlike her to cry. She felt wretched and ashamed at herself, and even more so for allowing her captors to see her tears. It was weak of her, and she despised weakness in herself. But the tears only stung the cuts across her face, forcing more tears. She raised her shackled hands and tentatively felt the ends of her hair. Less than ten minutes ago it had reached all the way down to her waist. Now it barely touched her shoulders. The one thing she was grateful for though, was that at least the Marines had not violated her to the utmost extent. Of course, they had petted and fondled her, as if she was some sort of doll meant to be touched in improper ways, and as she could do nothing defend herself against their intrusive touches. But at the very least, they had not violated her to _that_ extent…yet

Her thoughts moved to Coby. He had betrayed her. That was obvious. But that made it no easier a burden to bear. He had promised that he wouldn't turn her in as a pirate, and had broken that promise. But had he even known who she was at that point? It must have been a sudden discovery on his part. After all, why would he have spent time with her and seemingly enjoyed her company if he had known who she was? Would he not have arrested her sooner? Or was he simply trying to earn her trust, before turning around to hand her over?

Somehow Alvida didn't think that was possible. She might not have known him long, but she could tell he'd held affection for her. It might have been a childish affection, but a fondness all the same. If not, then it was a very convincing charade on his part.

And Alvida knew that Coby had every right to hate her. But despite this knowledge, as she lay curled on the floor of the brig, covered in her own blood and tears, she could feel no empathy for Coby. Only anger, hurt and fear. Not fear of Coby, but fear of where she was, and what would happen to her.

She was isolated, locked in a room and separated from absolutely everything. She was cut off from the world. And there was nothing Alvida feared more, than being alone.

There was the sound of uneven footsteps coming down the stairs.


	12. Why?

**Hi. Sorry for the delay in updating. My schedule's been pretty hectic lately so my updates will be considerably more irregular. **

**As I said, Coby hits his absolute peak of OOC behavior in this chapter, before he tones back down to his "slightly-more-in-character" self. **

**I don't own One Piece. Again, I apologize for the lack of creativity in my recent disclaimers.**

* * *

"_These violent delights have violent ends."  
__-Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 6._

The uneven footsteps drew closer as they proceeded down the stairs to the brig. Bringing herself painfully to a sitting position against the wall, she squinted against the dim light of the brig to make out the figure.

"You've got some nerve, showing up like this." she snarled, hastily trying to brush the tears from her eyes. "I guess your own personal revenge comes before a promise you made to a friend."

"I'm not your friend!" Coby yelled, in a voice that lacked self-control.

Alvida gingerly sniffed the air, and drew back closer to the brig wall.

"Since when do you drink Coby?" she spat. "You positively reek of sake. No doubt you and your little friends are no doubt enjoying what you found in my room? And you people say we pirates are thieves."

"SHUT UP!!" Coby yelled, even louder this time, now advancing to the barred door. Alvida drew back even further.

"You're drunk." she noted, now feeling slightly worried. "Never been drunk before, have you Coby? Been trying to drown all your confusion in sake? Surely you --"

"I told you to shut up!!" Coby shouted. "I put up with you and your shit for two years! I'm not going to take anymore from you."

Alvida was surprised Coby could string together coherent sentences at such a level of intoxication, but in a sudden movement, Coby unlatched the door to the brig and stepped inside.

Alvida looked up at him, trying to mask the fact that she was actually fearful of him. She pushed herself against the wall of the brig as far as should could, but knew there was no way she could avoid what she realized Coby had come here to do.

"You did what you wanted with me for two years." growled Coby, bending down and looking her in the eye. "And now it's my turn to do what I want to you."

Without warning Coby raised a fist and struck her across the face. Alvida felt blood well up in mouth as her head was knocked against the wall. With a great effort she kicked out at him and made contact with his legs. Coby staggered back, and Alvida managed to push herself into a standing position. Coby lunged at her and grabbed her by the wrists, twisting them painfully and forcing her back to her knees. Alvida cried out in pain as Coby twisted harder, making the cuffs she was wearing dig even deeper into her already injured wrists.

Coby then kicked out and made contact with her midriff. Alvida screamed as she fell flat onto her back across the floor, the impact forcing more blood out of her mouth. She tried to rise again, but was kicked across the face by Coby. Colors and dizzying shapes burst in front of her eyes. Coby seized her by her shortened hair and dragged her across the floor before flinging her against the stone wall.

"How do _you_ like it!?" Coby yelled. Alvida could only stare at him in a state of semi-consciousness, trying to keep her eyes open as blood dripped into them. Coby grabbed her hair again and pulled her into a sitting position against the wall. "How does it feel?!" he screamed, hitting her across the face. "To know what it felt like to be me? What you did to me everyday, you bitch!?"

He flung her against the wall again. Alvida tried to get up, to move, anything, but could only lay there her face pressed against the cold stone floor, as Coby began to kick her and continue his relentless cursing.

"So you thought you could _use_ me _again?!_ " Coby yelled, his blows becoming harder with each word, as Alvida could only choke back screams of pain. "You thought you could manipulate me like you did before?! Did you think I could be your little pet? A new plaything perhaps? Now that I was old enough to be something other than your slave? You filthy whore!"

These words brought a different kind of pain to her body. Coby now thought her no better than a whore? It was one thing to have it shouted at her by the Marines, but Coby?

"And did it make you happy?!" Coby continued. "Being the ugly bitch that you were, did you like having your own personal slave to kick around? And ever since I got away from you, there hasn't been a day when I haven't thought about how much I hated you! You ruined my life you bitch!!"

He dragged her away from the wall, and pushed her face against the seastone bars. The direct contact with the element made her face throb.

"Look at the most beautiful woman of all the seas now." Coby snarled in her ear. "Poor Alvida-sama. At the mercy of her own cabin boy."

_"Don't cry."_ Alvida told herself, fighting back tears of both pain and fear. _"Don't cry."_ It was taking everything she had just to remain conscious, much less to keep from crying.

"Go on, cry." hissed Coby, as though he was reading her thoughts. He pulled her away from the bars and grabbed her by the shoulders so that her face was inches from his. She could smell the sake on his breath. "Don't hold it back."

Alvida saw his eyes linger on the uneven ends of her hair. "What happened to all your long, pretty hair?" he taunted.

"SHUT UP!" she yelled through a mouthful of blood, trying to break his grip on her shoulders. Coby slapped her across the face. Then Alvida suddenly felt his hands lock around her throat. She gasped for air as she felt her windpipe being crushed within the constricting grip of Coby's hands. Blood and liquids spilled out of her mouth but Coby did not relinquish his hold on her throat.

"Don't you dare tell me to shut up, you slut." he spat, squeezing the base of her neck with even stronger force.

Alvida's head was spinning from the lack of oxygen. She couldn't breathe, couldn't force any sound passed her crushed windpipe, couldn't see, her vision beginning to cloud with the fog of either unconsciousness or death.

And then suddenly she felt Coby's grip slacken on her throat. She choked and gasped for air on the floor, clutching at her bruised neck. To her surprise, she saw a Marine officer who looked a few years his senior pulling him out from the brig and attempting to drag him back up the stairs. Coby was fighting tooth and nail to break free.

"LET GO! LET GO OF ME YOU BASTARD!"

"Coby, you'll kill her."

"AND WHAT IF THAT'S WHAT I WANT?!" Coby screamed. "WHAT IF THAT'S WHAT I WAS TRYING TO DO?!"

The Marine had managed to pull Coby to the top of the stairs. "Take him, and get him into my cabin." he said to people Alvida couldn't see. "He's drunk."

The Marine then walked back down the stairs, and shut the door to the brig.

"I'm so sorry, Miss." he said, locking the door.

Alvida said nothing. As soon as he had left, she collapsed onto the floor. She exhaled with relief, her breath half choked with the blood clogging her throat.

Her mind was reeling with pain and anger. As if his betrayal wasn't enough, Coby had taken advantage of her imprisonment simply to hurt her? To kill her?

She could think of a hateful thousand things she wanted to scream at Coby, for treating her, _using_ her, like this. But all that managed to come out of her mouth was,

"_Why?"_

She tried to stand up, but her body collapsed beneath her, and she gave herself away to unconsciousness.


	13. Hell Hath No Fury

**Hi. New chapter. Helmeppo gets his fifteen minutes of fame and Coby sinks back into being a little more like himself. Not much else to say, other than the fact I still don't own One Piece, and I doubt that this is going to change anytime soon.**

* * *

"_But cruel are times when we are traitors, and do not know ourselves,  
When we hold rumor from what we fear, yet know not what he fear."  
-Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 2._

Coby awoke with a splitting headache. He felt like absolute hell. He was in a hammock, and he recognized that he was in Helmeppo's cabin, but he couldn't for the life of him remember how he got there. He rose to a sitting position, as the room spun and lurched before him. He grasped his throbbing head and his stomach felt as though it had been turned inside out.

He tried desperately to remember what had happened last night. He could remember Alvida's capture, yes…but beyond that his head was empty. He struggled through the blank spaces in his mind.

There had been drinking…all the officers had been. He had been angry with Helmeppo, but could not remember why. And then he had gone downstairs, and had done _something_…what though?

Coby absentmindedly looked himself over. His hands and clothes were crusted over with dark red liquid.

Coby's already queasy stomach lurched at the sight of it. He felt certain he was going to be sick. With a great effort, he jumped down from the hammock. One hand clutching his throbbing head, the other his stomach, Coby staggered to the washroom on the opposite side of the room.

He stripped off his bloodstained clothes and stepped into the shower. After only a few minutes in the cold water Coby's stomach finally gave out and he retched the foul substances out of his stomach. The cold water washed away the phlegm, only to be replaced by more until his stomach had finally rid itself of all impurities. Coby felt slightly better, but his head still felt as though it was about split.

He staggered out of the shower, goose pimples rising on his flesh and he wrapped a towel around his body. He slipped on a shirt and loose pair of pants before walking unsteadily back to the hammock and curled up, still searching his aching head for the events of last night.

"So you're awake, are you?"

Coby turned over to see Helmeppo striding into the room, wearing an unreadable expression.

"I bet you feel like shit, don't you?' he said, unsympathetically.

Coby tried to speak but all that came out was an incoherent, "Uhhhh…."

"You're just hung over, that's all." said Helmeppo, sitting down. "And frankly I don't feel all that sorry for you, after getting so wasted last night, and what you did. I'll bet you don't even remember, do you?"

Coby shook his head and instantly regretted it, as it made his head spin even more.

"You tried to kill that woman." said Helmeppo, bluntly.

"What?" said Coby, finding his voice.

"You tried to kill her." Helmeppo repeated, glaring at Coby. "Alvida, that lady pirate we captured. The one who you had been seeing. Surely you remember that at least. After Garp and I told you who she was, you were in this state of like…I don't know, numb shock or something. Then you just took off. Then that evening you came back and got a squadron together to capture her. The night we all waited in the back alley and you brought her out of the tavern. Then we all came back here, and she was taken to be questioned. Well, one of the officers who searched her room found a whole ton of liquor in her closet. I can't help but wonder why the hell she had so much alcohol in her closet, but that's beside the point. So anyway, Garp allowed everyone to drink it, and you got drunk really fast. And then you just left, saying you were going to go see her. At first I didn't follow you because you'd yelled at me, but then I heard screaming. By the time I got down there you at the point of strangling her."

Coby gaped at Helmeppo as he paused in the long narrative.

"I…I was trying to _kill_ her?" Coby murmured.

"You would have, if I hadn't dragged you off her." said Helmeppo, fixing Coby with an angry stare. "You kept yelling not to stop you, and that she deserved it, and for me to stay out of it. I managed to lock you in here and just let you yell until you passed out, then I let you sleep it off.

Coby stared at Helmeppo, shocked by his own actions that he could not even remember.

"But I don't care how drunk you were, Coby." said Helmeppo coldly. "No amount of alcohol could excuse what you did last night. The poor woman had already been tormented enough by those three who questioned her, if you could even call it that. Probably the last person she wanted to see was you, after she had trusted you, despite the fact you were a Marine. You were her _friend_ Coby, and _you…_you were in love with her Coby. Don't try to deny it."

"I didn't know who she really was." said Coby, looking away.

"But how do you think she feels about you now?" said Helmeppo. "To be turned in and betrayed by someone she thought was a friend? And then to be _tortured_ by them? For god's sake Coby, the woman couldn't even defend herself, she was wearing seastone cuffs! How do you think it was to her, with you showing up in your drunken mindset screaming at her and bent on killing her and hurting her like that?"

Fragments of sentences floated to the surface of Coby's mind.

"_Did you think I could be your little pet? A new plaything perhaps? Now that I was old enough to be something other than your slave? You filthy whore!"_

_"Ever since I got away from you, there hasn't been a day when I haven't thought about how much I hated you! You ruined my life you bitch!"_

"_Look at the most beautiful woman on the seas now. Poor Alvida-sama. At the mercy of her own cabin boy."_

"_Don't you dare tell me to shut up, you slut."_

"Oh god." murmured Coby.

"It was disgusting." said Helmeppo. "It makes me sick Coby. No man should treat any woman like you did last night. Pirate or not. I hope you're happy."

Shooting Coby a final icy stare, Helmeppo stood up to leave.

"Where are you going?" Coby asked.

"To talk to her. Apologize for _you_." said Helmeppo. "And Coby, I'm going to tell you one more thing. You had better watch your back."

"What do you mean?" Coby asked, confused.

Helmeppo turned to face him in the doorway.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

* * *

"_Alas, a crimson river of warm blood,  
Like a bubbling fountain stirred with wind,  
Doth rise and fall between thy rosed lips."  
-Titus Andronicus, Act 2, Scene 4. _

There were still bloodstains on the stairs from the previous night. It was easier to see as it was morning, rather than last night when it had been almost pitch-black. It was dead silence as he approached the woman's cell. She was sprawled across the floor, gashes and welts across her body crusted over with dried blood. The thin nightdress she had been wearing was torn beyond recognition, barely covering her thin frame, and the fabric stuck to her body with the dried blood. She gave no sign of life or movement.

Helmeppo froze. Was she dead? Had she possibly bled to death in the night? Had the injuries Coby had given her killed her after all?

But slowly, she raised her head off the floor. Her hair was matted and tangled with blood. It fell in her startlingly green eyes as she looked at him.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice heavy with disdain and blood.

"Are you alright?" asked Helmeppo.

"What do _you_ care?" she snapped, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Her eyes flashed with suspicion, though red and swollen.

"I would just like to talk to you." said Helmeppo, as gently as he could.

"Talk to me?" she repeated scornfully. "Does that involve tying me to a chair and hitting me until I say something? Because your friends already did that."

"I have no intention of hurting you." said Helmeppo firmly. "You've been mistreated enough."

He unlocked the brig's door and stepped inside. She continued to regard him with suspicion from her position on the floor.

Slowly, she pushed herself off the ground with what seemed to be a great effort. Blood dripped onto the floor from several open wounds.

"Let me help you." said Helmeppo, quickly grabbing her arm, as she swayed dangerously as though she was about to collapse.

"Don't touch me!" she said, glaring at him. "I don't need your pity."

Helmeppo withdrew his hand. She managed to push herself into a sitting position, before she slumped against the wall, breathing heavily. Helmeppo took in her appearance. She bore the unmistakable wounds and bruises of maltreatment and torture, and he was quite certain her hair had been much longer upon her capture. No doubt her interrogators had cut it off simply for the sport of cruelty. He had seen it done to female prisoners before. If you want to hurt a woman, you strike her vanity. Blood was trickling thickly from the corner of her mouth and he felt a sudden wave of sympathy as he looked at her.

He sat down against the opposite wall. She was still watching him closely, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. She obviously didn't trust him, and Helmeppo didn't blame her.

"It's Alvida, isn't it?" he asked, softly.

She nodded, closing her eyes.

"The most beautiful woman on all the seas." she announced softly, in an almost wistful voice. She opened her eyes and fixed him with a cold stare. "What do you _really_ want?" she asked coolly.

"To talk to you." said Helmeppo. "Tell me about who you are."

"You want to know who I am?" she repeated scornfully. "As if you don't already know."

Helmeppo was perturbed by this statement.

"The Iron Mace, The Lady Pirate, The Self-Proclaimed Pirate Queen, and Seductress?" she said with disdain, leaning back against the wall. "What bullshit."

"No one tells me how to judge a person." said Helmeppo. "No one but myself, that is."

Alvida surveyed him, tilting her head slightly to one side.

"I'm not a whore." she said quietly, looking away. "And I'm sick of being treated like one. I'm just…a bit of a flirt, really. My own downfall I suppose."

She paused a moment, staring at the far wall.

"When we docked at this island, the crew I'm with that is, all I wanted was to take some time to myself. That's all. Just be myself and not worry about the judgment of others. What I really wanted, was a bit of freedom."

She gazed around the dismal surroundings of the cell.

"Sure worked out well, didn't it?" she murmured, hanging her head.

Helmeppo did not know what he could say.

"So what about you?" she asked suddenly, peering at him with those haunting eyes. "You're a Marine, that's obvious. What your name?"

"Helmeppo."

"That's a pretty stupid name."

"Thanks."

"Well it _is_." said Alvida, almost grinning. "So like I said, you're Marine. What's your story?"

"Well, I wasn't always." said Helmeppo, shrugging. "My father was a Marine though."

"I suppose _he_ got you your rank and position." she replied, a hint of scorn in her voice.

"No he didn't actually." said Helmeppo. "He was just a stupid old man who wanted power, and I played along because I was an idiot. Once his dictatorship was overthrown, he was arrested and was sent to work as chore boy. I worked my way up from there."

"And your father? Was he executed?"

"He escaped, using _me_ as a hostage." said Helmeppo bitterly. "He's still out there, somewhere."

"What was his name?"

"Morgan. Captain Morgan."

Alvida stared at him.

"You're the son of _Captain Morgan?_" she asked, sounding disbelieving. "I didn't think he had a family."

Helmeppo hung his head.

"He didn't."

"So you're his bastard child then?" she said, with a slight note of amusement in her voice.

"Don't call me that -"

"I'm only stating the facts, I meant no offense." she murmured. "Have you by any chance read _King Lear_?"

"What's _King Lear_?"

"It's a great Shakespearean play. You've never heard of it?"

"Literature's not really my thing." said Helmeppo sheepishly, not wanting to admit that his idea of reading was looking at hentai.

"Your loss." said Alvida. "You should read it. You'd find the character of Edmund very interesting. You could possibly even identify with him. He was the bastard son of the Earl of Gloucester. His actions throughout the entire play are driven by his desire to be recognized legitimately."

"I'd never be able to keep names like Gloucester straight in my mind." said Helmeppo. "If you want to talk Shakespeare, then talk to Coby."

An unreadable expression passed over Alvida's face at the mention of Coby's name.

"What…" Helmeppo began. "What is between you and Coby?'

"It was ages ago." she murmured. "And I don't want to talk about it. It's a part of my life I'm trying to forget about. I'll admit, I did things I shouldn't have, but it was so long ago. I've changed. I'm a different person than I was back then, or at least I've tried to be."

"Did you know who he was when you met him on this island?"

"No." she said earnestly. "I swear, I had no idea. All I wanted was someone to talk to and have a pleasant conversation with. I wanted to meet someone who wouldn't think I was some sort of…"

Her voice trailed off.

"I wanted a _friend_."

"Coby was in love with you." said Helmeppo softly.

"I know he was." said Alvida. "And I played along with his little crush, just because he was so sweet. But…it's amazing how one's feelings can change so abruptly."

Helmeppo was uncertain as to what he could say.

"But I _trusted_ him." said Alvida, her voice suddenly becoming low and dangerous. "I let him betray me. He made me the promise that he would remain my ally, my friend, and not turn me in. Regardless of the past between us, which neither one of us were even aware of at the time. And then he took advantage of my trust, in order to have me arrested? Simply to gain his own personal revenge? And now he thinks he can take advantage of me to abuse me like this?"

Her shackled hands were clenched in fists. Blood was streaming between her white knuckles.

"He should know better than to cross me. I thought I'd taught him to fear a woman's anger, especially mine, a long time ago."

"I'm so sorry, for what he did to you." said Helmeppo.

"You shouldn't have to make his amends for him." she said, narrowing her eyes.

She was stared at the floor with a hardened expression. Helmeppo saw the anger in her face and for the first time he felt slightly uneasy, and was rather thankful that she was weakened by the seastone.

"I'm done talking." she said suddenly, raising her head.

Helmeppo didn't want to argue with her.

"Thank you for being willing to talk to me." he said, standing up and walking out of the small room.

"Whatever." Alvida responded, tonelessly. "You aren't very interesting. You would be if you read Shakespeare."

Helmeppo laughed.

"What was that book called?"

"_King Lear."_

"Right, I'll ask Coby if he has a copy."

Helmeppo turned to leave, when Alvida spoke out again suddenly.

"You tell Coby one thing for me, alright?"

"Of course. What is it?"

She turned her eyes on him again, and Helmeppo tried not to shudder as he heard the deeply set enmity etched into her voice.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."


	14. The Woman Scorned

**Sorry for such a delay in posting this. My workload has been hectic lately, and uploading fanfiction isn't exactly my first priority all the time. **

**In this chapter I say a very, very bad word that I promised myself I would never, ever use in fanfiction, but unfortunately I broke that promise. I'm sorry. To my readers, its probably not going to be a huge deal, because its not like its an uncommon swear word in fanfiction, but all the same, I dislike the use of this word in particular simply because its vulgar and hugely overused.**

**I don't own One Piece, but I mean, that's okay, because there are a lot of other cool things I do own, like…a sheep.**

* * *

"_If thou does slander her and torture me, never pray more;  
Abandon all remorse…  
For nothing canst thou to damnation add greater than that."  
Othello, Act 3, Scene 3._

Coby lay in Helmeppo's hammock, staring at the ceiling. Why had Helmeppo gone to talk to her?

His mind was reeling with so many emotions at the present situation. Hate, guilt, confusion and hurt, all mixed into one teeming mass of thought.

He had loved her. Perhaps childishly, but an affection all the same.

But that was of course, before he knew who she was.

And now he hated her, for who she was.

But it felt like he had loved her as a different person. 'Viola" had seemed to be everything but Lady Alvida. 'Viola' was sweet, compassionate, and beautiful. Alvida was temperamental, impatient, cold and ugly. Of course though, Garp had explained that the devil fruit she had eaten bestowed her with great beauty, but looks weren't all that there was to 'Viola.'

How could one person possibly change so much? Had 'Viola' merely been an act? Just a ruse of hers to hide who she really was? Had she simply viewed him as nothing more than an interesting acquaintance that she had mistakenly invested too much trust in?

Was she really the whore that the rest of the crew claimed she was?

He didn't want to believe that.

And then he felt guilty. As much as he tried to tell himself he had done the right thing, the guilt ensued. He had made her a promise. But all that was before he had known who she was.

But did that not therefore give him just cause to break that promise?

And then there was last night.

He had tried to kill her.

Even his darkest hours of brooding and hate, as he had lain awake for nights in his hammock, thinking about the two years of his life she had wasted in slavery, the concept of murder had never entered his mind. Despite all the hatred towards her that had plagued him, every time he had viewed the scars across his back, and how he had waited for the day when he might find her, her death had not been among his desires.

To confront her, maybe.

To capture her. Show her what he had become.

Imprison her perhaps, for as long as she deserved for her crimes.

Show her that _he had survived._

But _kill_ her?

Of all the things he had wished against Lady Alvida, death had not been one of them.

A knock on the door announced Helmeppo's return. He walked in looking somber.

"What did she say?" asked Coby anxiously.

"The exact same thing I did."

Coby swallowed nervously.

"I don't think she's the type to forgive easily." Helmeppo said. "And I don't blame her, giving the position she's in, and what you've done to her."

Coby bowed his head.

"I don't know what you intend to do about this, Coby." said Helmeppo. "I'm sure you're in a state of trying to figure out whether or not you actually hate this woman, but I don't think this is something you can just ignore. You need to talk to her and -"

"No way!" Coby burst out. "You don't know what she's like when she's angry! You don't know her like I do!"

Helmeppo sighed.

"This is _your_ burden to bear Coby, not mine. I'm sure it won't be easy, however you end up going about this, but I think you're being a coward."

Coby started to protest, but could think of nothing to say.

"I'm leaving." Helmeppo announced. "I have work to do. You can sit here and brood the day away, or you can get up and do something useful. I've told Garp you were ill."

Coby stared at the ceiling.

"Fine then." said Helmeppo, turning to leave, but then he paused.

"Oh Coby, I almost forgot." he said. "Do you have a copy of a play called _King Lear_?"

"Yeah." said Coby, completely perturbed by this sudden interest in Shakespeare on Helmeppo's part. "Why?"

"Can I borrow it?"

"I guess so." said Coby. "I thought you hated Shakespeare. What's prompted this sudden change of heart?"

"Never you mind." said Helmeppo coolly.

"There should be a copy in my cabin here." said Coby, somewhat distractedly. "If not then check my room at the tavern."

"Thanks!" said Helmeppo, looking thoroughly pleased with himself as he left.

In spite of the situation, Coby managed a small smile of bewilderment.

"Helmeppo wants to read Shakespeare?" he muttered incredulously to himself. "What's next?"

* * *

"_They have tied me to a stake.  
I cannot fly, but bear-like, I must fight the course."  
-Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 7._

Drowning.

It was what every devil fruit user feared above all things.

The water, icy and frigid against your skin, crushing in on you and immobilizing your body as it rushed into your lungs, choking you from the inside as you gasped for air and struggled against the sea's paralysis…

Alvida felt her head suddenly pulled from the large basin of water and she was thrown across the room, coughing, dripping wet and shivering from the freezing water. Her arms her cuffed painfully behind her back, and she felt that her wrists would surely break if she continued to be thrown around in such a manner. Retching out quantities of water and blood, she stared up at her three interrogators through her curtain tangled and wet hair. For the past hour they had been holding her head underwater for increasingly long intervals of time, and bringing her back up and what always seemed to be just the last second…

"I already told you." she said coughing against the water in her lungs. "I'm not telling you where they are."

She tried to push herself onto her feet but was shoved back to the floor.

"Stop trying to be smart with us." growled one of the Marines. "Tell us where your bloody crew is."

Alvida had decided she was not going to do to her shipmates what Coby had done to her. As little attachment as she felt towards Buggy and his crew, she did not want their blood on her hands.

"They're not even _my_ crew." she said, almost desperately. "I'm not the captain. I'm more like their traveling companion. I joined up with them ages ago."

"Their traveling _companion_? Heh, more like their whore. How much did they hire you for?"

Her interrogators laughed, while Alvida said nothing.

"Let's see, the captain gets her three nights a week, then two nights she's with the first mate, and then the other two she's with the second mate!"

"But of course, that doesn't count all the time with the rest of the crew!"

Alvida looked away.

One of the Marines grabbed her by the chin and pulled her head back to face him.

"Don't ignore us when we're talking to you." he hissed, tilting her head up so that she was forced to look at him. "So what do we have to do to get you to talk to us?"

"Stop calling me a whore?" suggested Alvida, with heavy irony.

Her sarcasm earned her a slap in the face.

"Stubborn bitch." the Marine muttered, turning away.

"Bastard." she spat back.

The insult earned her another slap.

"This is getting us no where." said another of the Marines, folding his arms. "Just take her back to the brig, and I'll talk to Garp. See what he can _authorize_."

"Hear that pretty?" the third one snickered in her ear. "If you don't cooperate, you might just find yourself in front of a firing squad tomorrow morning."

Alvida felt her insides contract with fear and a cold sweat break out on the back of her neck.

"Oh, so that's it? You just shoot me?" she said, in what she hoped was a disdainful voice.

"Be grateful we don't pitch you off the ship and into the harbor right now." laughed the first one. "Or use you as bait to lure out your mates. On second thought that might not be a bad idea." He bent down to her level, and she could only glare at him from her haphazard position on the floor.

"Or maybe." he whispered. "The Admiral will let us have a piece of you before he signs off your execution. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

He leaned in close to her face and ran his tongue along her cheek, his hands snaking their way around her breasts. Alvida lurched away, snarling a stream of curses.

"Don't you dare touch me like that, you filthy son of a bitch -"

Her curses were cut off as she was kicked in the mouth. Blood spilled from between her lips and onto the floor.

"Watch your mouth."

"Just get her out of here."

Alvida felt herself being pulled off the floor by the hair as one of the Marines none too gently removed the seastone cuffs only for the slightest of moments to grab her hands from behind her back and shackle them back in front of her.

Not bothering to allow her chance to stand on her feet, the two Marines simply dragged her up the small flight of stairs and down the dimly lit hallway that Alvida knew led back to her cell in the brig. They literally threw her in, before slamming the door closed, muttering darkly to each other.

As Alvida sat there in the darkness, the words Buggy had spoken during their encounter on the street floated back into her mind.

"_You think this is funny, don't you Alvida? Yes, it's all fun and games to flirt with cute little Marines, until you get caught, and the next you know you'll be in prison, or worse…the firing squad."_

Buggy had been right. (This annoyed her, as it was not something that happened very often.) This was entirely her fault. Had she been afraid before, it was nothing to what she felt now, now that she knew she faced the possibility of execution.

She wanted to go home. Be anywhere but where she was. She was sick of having questions shouted at her, sick of being told she was a whore, sick of her breasts fondled and hands thrust up her dress, sick of everything. She realized with surprise how much she actually did miss Buggy's crew. She missed lying down on her long couch on the deck. Cabaji would sing and perform his acrobatics for her, while Buggy would yell at him to stop hitting on her and go do something useful, as Ritchie the lion would come running across the deck to investigate what all the noise was, before lying down at her feet and providing her an excellent foot-rest, until Mohji would show up and yell at her that Ritchie was not a piece of furniture, before asking to borrow one of her hairbrushes. How much she fully appreciated these everyday comforts now that she had been robbed of them.

She curled up against the wall, shivering with more than just cold.

She hated being alone.

"_You can't stand to be alone with yourself too long, can you Alvida?"_

"Shut up."

"_So Satoshi was Coby after all. And of course he hates you for what you did to him. What __**we **__did to him." _

Usually Alvida only heard her former self in mirrors, but now not just the cell, but the entire the room itself seem emanate with her voice. And there was no comforting bottle of sake to drown out her own voice.

"_And now you're all alone, with yourself. That is until those Marines come back for you. I wonder how long until one of them can't take it anymore and pulls off your dress?"_

"Shut up." said Alvida again, trying to block her mind against her own voice.

"_And I'm sure that child can't wait to watch you die. Maybe they'll let him be the one to fire the first shot?"_

"STOP!" screamed Alvida.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" came a Marine's voice, as he strode into the room. "Quit talking to yourself. What do you think you are? A bloody schizophrenic or something?"

Alvida said nothing.

"Don't ignore me you useless bitch." said the Marine, striding up to the bars of the door.

"Just go away." murmured Alvida.

"Don't tell me what to do." spat the Marine.

Alvida ignored him. She did not have the energy to retort.

"I told you not to ignore me!"

Alvida had barely enough time to stagger to her feet as the Marine flung open the brig's door.

"I've been wanting to do this ever since we captured you." he said, grabbing her by the waist.

"Let go of me!" she yelled, trying to twist away, but her held her tightly.

"Shh. Not so loud." he whispered, pulling off his blue neckerchief and stuffing it roughly into her mouth before Alvida could protest. "Can't let my mates hear, or they'd want their share of you too. And we can't have that."

Alvida realized in horror what he was about to do.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her down onto the floor, his legs straddling her thighs. Alvida hit out at him despite the seastone holding her wrists, but he merely pinned her flailing arms with one hand, while his other snaked its way inside of her dress. Alvida let out a strangled wail as he groped her breasts eagerly. He then yanked off the cord around her waist that kept the nightdress fastened.

"Devil Fruit or not, you have wonderfully smooth skin." he whispered, his hand traveling across her now exposed stomach and down her waist.

Alvida was thrashing against his hold in sheer panic, her screams choked off by the cloth in her mouth.

"_Oh god, no."_ she thought desperately. _"Please no. Don't let him do this to me."_

Within seconds he would be inside of her, and there was nothing she could do. She would thrash and bleed and scream mutely all for naught while he extorted the desired pleasure out of her body. His weight was crushing her slight frame, pinning her down while one of his hands continued to hold her struggling arms, while the other continued to fondle whatever part of her body it could reach.

"Oh come now, ship-whore, you're insulting me." the Marine purred in her ear, his voice dripping with lust. His breathing was heavy and fast with anticipation. Alvida could feel the sickening clamminess of the sweat coating his body.

"You let your crew fuck you all the time, don't you?" he whispered, his tongue touching her ear. "So why all this fuss?"

He groped at his belt with the one hand he wasn't using to keep her arms at bay. Fumbling with the clasp, he let go of her arms for only a moment to take it off properly. It was all Alvida needed. She swung her cuffed hands and hit him squarely in the face, using the weight of the seastone to her advantage. With a cry of shock the Marine lurched backwards, freeing her legs. Alvida kicked out and hit him squarely in the crotch.

The Marine's face contorted with pain. His knees buckled and he collapsed, clutching his injured element. He started at her, huddled on the ground, his previous demeanor completely vanished.

"You…_bitch._"

Alvida straightened up. She pulled the gag out of her mouth and spat in his face. Then she walked over to him from behind and pulled him onto his knees.

"What the hell do you think you're doing you - ARGH!"

His demand was cut off as Alvida threw her cuffed hands over his head and around his throat. She pulled harder as he gasped and choked for air against the seastone crushing his esophagus. He gave a long, choking gasp and went limp. Alvida released her hold on him, breathing a sigh of relief.

She searched his pockets, looking for a set of keys that could unlock the seastone cuffs. She quickly freed herself and then removed the pistol from inside his jacket.

She could stay in the brig, wait for nightfall and bolt for the town the moment everyone was asleep, but surely the absence of one of the sailors would be noticed. She'd have to run for it now.

But there was one matter she wanted to attend to before leaving, no matter how dangerous it could be.


	15. Mercy

**Hi there. Happy belated Halloween! I hope everyone had fun! I went as Perona, and no one knew who I was. I mean, that's not surprising, but I was hoping that when I went out with my friends I might have encountered at least one obscure anime fan who would have been like "Oh! You're Ghost Princess Perona!" but instead all I got were people who thought I was the Queen of Hearts or Alice in Wonderland gone wrong. **

**I saw a production of Hamlet last night…it was okay. Hamlet's not one of my favorite plays and the acting company was pretty so-so, but it was alright. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Deception will be drawing to a close soon!**

**Did I mention that I don't own One Piece?**

* * *

"_The quality of mercy is not strained.  
It droppeth as a gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath.  
It is twice blest.  
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes."  
-The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1._

Coby felt like he could take it no longer.

He felt as though he had lain there for days, searching his mind for some sort of conclusion as to what to do. He had found absolutely nothing.

How could he possibly manage to hate and love someone at the same time?

There was Viola, and there was Alvida.

Did he even know who she _truly _was?

There was Viola, a friend, one he trusted and adored.

Then there was Alvida, a tyrant, one he feared and hated.

It was like some twisted allegory of fear and trust, hate and love, beauty and tormented him, to the point he felt as though his mind was been eaten away from the inside.

He heard voices from outside.

_"She's refusing to tell us anything. We can't force it out of her Admiral."_

_"Do you know what an execution means to me? Paperwork! A hell of a lot of paperwork!"_

_"But Admiral-"_

The voices faded away. Coby's insides contracted with fear. They had only just captured her, and she was already facing the prospect of execution?

It was too much. Coby could lay in Helmeppo's hammock all day and brood, but it seemed he would find no answers.

He slowly sat up from the hammock and stepped down. Something cold and metal, just ever so gently touched the back of his skull.

"You should be more alert, for a Marine."

Coby froze, the voice directly behind him.

"Don't move."

He knew her voice. As to how on earth she had managed to get free, and find a weapon, Coby was at a loss. But he felt the pistol's touch against his neck and knew he could not have possibly moved even if he wanted to.

"How did it feel Coby?" Alvida's voice purred dangerously from directly behind him. "To live that moment of revenge you spent your life waiting for? It's a shame that you didn't manage to kill me. How ironic, that you should fall for the very woman you had been seeking."

Coby could only stand there, rooted to the spot. He couldn't think, move or react. This wasn't like last night. He was not drunk, and she was not defenseless and weakened. She was free to cause him as much pain as she desired; to strike back for what he had done to her.

And Coby was well aware of the fact that she knew how to cause pain. She was Lady Alvida, a figure in his life he would always connect with pain, and fear. Despite his training, his decision to join the Marines, that deep-rooted fear had remained, and there was nothing he could do to rid himself of it.

He would _always_ fear her.

And here she was, inches behind him, as Coby stood terrified and gripped by sheer phobia not afraid of the pistol at his head, but of the woman holding it.

"Turn around Coby." she whispered.

Coby couldn't move.

"I said _turn around._" she snarled, her voice taking on a tone of wrath he had learned to fear all too well. Slowly, he turned around to face her. The pistol was now right between his eyes.

But he didn't fear the weapon, that she could fire at any moment and end his life. It was simply _her. _Her presence.

He looked back at her. The bruises and smaller cuts she had sustained were completely gone, to Coby's shock and bewilderment. The larger wounds and gashes seemed less swollen, and some were all but healed.

"You can't leave scars on me." she said coolly, while Coby stared as a slash on her neck seemed to close up before his eyes. "The only reason you could hurt me was because of the seastone. But now that I'm not longer exposed to it, my smooth skin tends to heal rather quickly."

She smirked, while Coby could only stare back at her, unable to look away.

"Tell me Coby." she cooed, keeping the pistol steady, while her other hand gently titled his chin up. "Who is the most beautiful woman on all the seas?"

The words forced themselves out of Coby's mouth before he could stop them. It had been like an instinct to him, a reflex. The response had been drilled into him.

"You are Lady Alvida."

"Very good." she said, nodding in approval. "I taught you well, it would seem."

Coby could practically hear his heart throbbing in his chest. She was going to kill him. She had every reason to want to. He had broken his promise to her. The years of abuse and hate she had subjected him to probably meant absolutely nothing to her. He knew not to expect mercy from her.

But she probably wouldn't be satisfied with just shooting him through the head. No, it was too quick, and far too painless. She'd want to draw it out, to torment him, maybe not physically, but mentally. It would be the suspense, of waiting for her finger to squeeze just enough to fire the shot. Just enough was the absolute fear and trauma of simply staring at her.

"I can easily understand your motives for breaking your promise." said Alvida, to Coby's surprise. "I'm sure it was a difficult decision to make. You obviously wanted revenge against me, and I don't blame you. But for you to think you could take advantage of my imprisonment to throw your hate and abuse on me as you did last night?"

Her voice was cold and dangerous, but through his fear Coby could have sworn he heard the sound of hurt.

"I can't believe you would do that Coby." she said, quietly.

The door opened suddenly.

"Hey Coby, what was that book called again? King-something, wasn't it? Because I found a ton of books in your room, but there are too many titles with 'King' in them. There's _King John,_ _King -"_

Helmeppo stopped in mid-sentence. Coby could only just see him out of the corner of the eye, standing frozen in the doorway. Coby didn't dare say anything.

"Oh my god." said Helmeppo, staring at the pair of them.

"It's _King Lear._" said Alvida casually, seemingly not bothered at all by Helmeppo's presence. "I didn't think you were so forgetful."

Coby could just barely see the look of horror on Helmeppo's face.

"Oh go on, yell for help." said Alvida, her hand still locked on the pistol. "But the minute you do Coby here might just lose his mind, if you'll pardon the bad metaphor. But it's not like he wasn't losing it already. These hours since last night have been torture for you, haven't they Coby? Lying here, trying to figure out who I am? Whether I'm the woman you hate or the woman you love? And coupled with the knowledge I was lying just floors below, broken, bleeding and tortured? Do you realize half the things that have been done to me? I was almost _raped_ this afternoon."

Coby heard Helmeppo gasp from the doorway.

"We've _both_ been through hell, Coby." she murmured, her expression unreadable.

_"Go on Helmeppo."_ Coby thought desperately. _"Go ahead, call someone, let her kill me! Let it be over with!"_

But Helmeppo remained where he was. Out of the corner of his eye, Coby saw a group of four Marines or so walk by the door, seeing Helmeppo standing immobile in the doorway.

"Hey Helmeppo, what's wrong?" one of them asked, while the other peered around him.

"Oh my god." he gasped. "Someone get help! That woman's going to kill Coby!"

Coby closed his eyes, waiting for the sound of the pistol, waiting for the fleeting moment of pain before he would die, but to his surprise, it didn't come. He felt nothing.

He opened his eyes. She was still standing there, the pistol still between his eyes, but there was something in her expression that told differently.

There was a certain reluctance in her eyes. They were wide and staring into his, a seemingly strange combination of panic and disbelief. There was something else in there too, but it couldn't be…was it…fear? The hand that held the pistol had begun to tremble.

In a wave of disbelieving shock, Coby understood.

She wanted to.

But she couldn't.

"Coby I…" she murmured. Her voice was trembling with remorse, and it was…fearful. An emotion he had not thought possible of either Viola or Alvida. Her eyes were frightened, and they glistened strangely in the dim light of the cabin.

She wanted to kill him.

But she couldn't make herself.

About a half dozen Marines suddenly burst into the cabin, armed with long rifles.

"Drop the pistol!" one of them barked.

Alvida took one last painful stare of remorse into Coby's eyes, and dropped the pistol. It fell to the floor with a faint clatter.

Alvida turned away from Coby, her head bowed.

"I give up." she said, raising her hands in submission. "I give up. You win, Coby." Her voice was tremulous.

The instant she turned Helmeppo grabbed Coby and pulled him away. Coby could only stare at Alvida, in complete disbelief of what she had just done.

"I'll get more help." said Helmeppo, and he ran from the room.

"You aren't going to hurt me with those things." said Alvida softly, as several of the Marines thrust their rifles closer. "Just take me back. I'll go, quietly."

Her voices was expressionless, blocking out any trace of the emotions Coby knew must have flooding through her.

She passively displayed her wrists. The Marines gaped at her, as if in shock by her sudden calmness.

"Go on." she said, almost as if she was simply tired. "I told you, I'll go quietly."

At once she was seized by half of the Marines and thrown to the ground. Her arms were twisted behind and locked into seastone cuffs while the others held her down.

"You bitch!" one of them spat, grabbing her by her hair and pulling her onto her knees. "So you killed off one of our mates and tried to go for Coby did you?"

He seized the pistol she had dropped and whipped her across the face with it, leaving a bright red welt. The seastone was obviously affecting her. The wounds she had sustained that had been almost healed now split open and began to bleed. The right side of her face was swollen and gashed from the lash of the pistol.

"We ought to kill you right now for what you did!" one of them yelled, hitting her in the stomach and knocking her back to the floor with a cry of pain that forced blood from her mouth.

"Tried…tried to…rape me." Alvida gasped out through a mouthful of blood from her position on the floor.

"Well why don't we finish what he started then?"

"You hold her down, I'll pull her dress off."

"And shut the door, we don't want the Admiral seeing."

Coby's heart was racing. His mind seemed numbed with panic and shock, he couldn't think what to do as the Marines held down her arms and legs. But she wasn't even struggling. All the fight seemed to have gone out of her. She just lay there, and stared back at Coby. Coby saw in disbelief, that she was crying. She looked ashamed, but the tears kept spilling down her face. Lady Alvida…_crying?_ Coby had never thought such a thing possible. Her green eyes were swollen and clouded with fear and pain, but they looked back into his, and…_pleaded._

She had shown him mercy.

And after what he had done to her, despite his betrayal and his abuse, she had been unable to kill him.

Blood was staining the floor, pooling from a gash in her stomach where the newly healed skin at split open again. One of the Marines grasped the front of her dress and pulled it open. Coby had a fleeting glimpse of a pale pink undergarment, before it was torn off, and he gasped in horrified shock her figure spilled out.

"Whoa, nice tits sweetheart!"

"Funny, somehow I thought they'd be bigger."

"Still, there's _plenty_ there."

"Well now, who gets to go first?"

Her face flushed in shame and humiliation at her exposure. She looked at Coby again, and as they pleaded with his, he felt he could stand it no more.

"STOP IT!" he screamed. "STOP HURTING HER! LEAVE HER ALONE!"

The Marines all froze and gaped at him.

"What the hell is wrong with you Coby?" one of them asked. "This bitch just tried to kill you."

"THAT DOSEN'T GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO HUMILIATE HER LIKE THIS!" Coby shouted.

"Coby…" Alvida murmured.

"Shut up!" snarled one of the officers, kicking her in the face.

"NO!" Coby yelled. "DON"T TOUCH HER YOU BASTARD!"

He slowly bent down to Alvida's level. She stared at him, almost in disbelief.

"Get out." said Coby, glaring at the officers. "All of you. Get out. Now."

In complete bewilderment they filed out, but not without a decent amount of muttering between them.

"The kid just wants her to himself."

"He's one to talk after what he did to her last night."

"Looks like the two lovers need some time to themselves."

"Yeah, well just wait until tomorrow. I hear the Admiral's almost consented to sending her before the firing squad."

Coby waited until they were all gone. He unlatched the shackles from her wrists and helped her sit up. Coby couldn't look at her. The fact that she had tried to kill him moments before was practically forgotten. The amount of guilt he felt was overwhelming.

He gently straightened her dress so that she was covered.

"Coby, I…" she murmured, tears streaming down her face.

"Coby!"

Coby turned around to see Helmeppo and Admiral Garp standing in the doorway.

"Excellent. I see you've succeeded in apprehending her." said Garp, looking pleased.

"No, Admiral…I -" Coby began, standing up quickly.

"Helmeppo here says he saw her try to kill you. Is that true?"

"Yes, I mean no, Admiral I…"

"Get her out of here and back to the brig." Garp barked to a dozen or so odd Marines who were assembled outside the door.

Before Coby could protest any further the Marines dragged her roughly up off the floor and were shoving her out of the cabin. She stared back at him a moment, before she was led away and out of sight.

Coby stared after her.

"You stay here with Coby." said Garp, jerking his thumb at Helmeppo. "I'll be back."

He left the room and shut the door behind him, leaving Coby alone with Helmeppo.

"Coby, are you alright?" asked Helmeppo quietly, approaching him.

Coby stared at the floor. Everything that had ever happened from the moment he had set foot on her ship, from their meeting in the tavern, to her capture, seemed to be welling inside him. He could stand it no longer.

He screamed, and let out the torrent of emotion that had been plaguing him the entire day. And not even caring that Helmeppo was watching, he sank to his knees, sobbing.

He loved her.

* * *

"_His unkindness may defeat my life,  
But never taint my love."  
-Othello, Act 4, Scene 2._

She was back in the brig. Back in the darkness, left alone with herself, bleeding and weakened once again by the seastone. And no matter how she tried, Alvida simply could not stem the flow of tears streaming down her cheeks. She had cried out of pain and humiliation before, but now she wept for different reasons.

She couldn't bring herself to kill him.

Despite his betrayal, his broken promise and abuse, she had not been able to. And now she felt ashamed and guilty for seeking revenge against him. It had been childish and vicious of her, like something her former self would have done. She had been stupid. And now she cried because she had come to realize what she had not thought possible, and why she couldn't kill him.

She loved him.


	16. Beauty

**I'm really sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up, and I feel even worse because this chapter is **_**really**_** short. However, to compensate for my lack of punctuality and the extreme lack on actual content in this chapter, I will try to post tomorrow morning as well, (seeing as the next chapter is also rather short) and if not tomorrow then Tuesday. (I can't on Monday, sorry.) **

**I still don't own One Piece, and I can't think of anything witty to add as an explanation why. Enjoy the painfully short and somewhat pointless chapter.**

* * *

"_Her beauty makes this vault a feasting presence full of light!"  
-Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Scene 3._

It was late in the night. The blood had been scrubbed off the floor of Helmeppo's cabin. Coby had waited patiently for the silence of sleep and darkness. Quietly, he made his way from his room and out across the deck. It was nearly pitch black outside and freezing in the night air. Coby clutched the small candle he was holding, though it provided little warmth and only a tiny circumference of light.

She was asleep, though likely not by choice, as a trio of puncture wounds were visibly swollen along her neck, like marks left by a syringe. She was gagged and tightly bound to the ship's mast, her body slumped against the ropes; her head resting against her left shoulder. Coby saw heavy shackles on her ankles and wrists and knew they must be made of seastone to keep her smooth body from sliding free of the ropes.

The afternoon seemed to have gone by in a blur. Once Admiral Garp had discovered she had strangled one of the officers to death and had made an attempt to kill Coby, he immediately consented to sending her before the firing squad the next day. Her protestations that the officer had attempted to rape her and her accusations against the other Marines who had tried to do the same were dismissed. Despite the fact that Coby had testified to as a witness to her assault, he was ignored and overruled by the other Marines.

They had tied her to the ship's mast that evening, where they would perform her execution at sunrise.

"That is if she's still alive." one of the Marines had commented. "I mean, given the state she's in, she might not make it through the night out here like this."

She was indeed in poor condition. She was still wearing the tattered rosemary nightdress, though it was now barely recognizable beneath the slashes and bloodstains. Coby could hear her uneven breathing and see the tremble of her body, and knew she must be freezing.

But despite her appearance, the wounds gaping across her body, her lips dark red and crusted with their own blood, her hair matted with blood and cropped painfully short, and the pain etched across her face even as she slept, Coby had never seen anyone so beautiful.

He drew closer and the light of the candle fell across her face. Her dark green eyes fluttered and squinted against the light a moment, before they finally opened to look at him.

Coby gently reached behind her head to untie the strip of cloth that was rendering her silent. As he did, his hand brushed her cheek. It felt cold, yet smooth and lovely.

She stared at him, almost in disbelief a moment. Her eyes took him in, sparkling with tears, swollen and bloodshot in the dim light.

She looked so beautiful.

"Alvida." Coby murmured, his hand shaking as he touched her shoulder. "Can you forgive me?"


	17. Forgiveness

**Back again!! So here's your compensation for yesterday's practically pointless chapter. Posting two days in a row! (You're lucky I managed to find the time to squeeze that into my schedule.) This chapter is also rather on the short side, but not as short as yesterday's, which was like, barely a page. Like I said, Deception is in its very final chapters, so enjoy them. **

**I don't own One Piece. I wish I did, but somehow I doubt Oda-sensei is going to be entrusting his characters to me anytime soon, especially given my particular fandoms. **

* * *

"_Do not repent these things, for they are heavier than all thy woes can stir."  
__-A Winter's Tale, Act 3, Scene 2._

Alvida looked at him, her face partially hidden by shadow, but Coby could still see the gratitude in her eyes.

"I think," she murmured. "We've done enough to each other by now. There's really nothing to forgive anymore. I think we're even with each other."

She smiled.

"I will forgive you," she said. "But only if you're willing to forgive me, and forgive yourself as well."

Coby nodded slowly.

"I can do that." he said quietly.

He withdrew his knife and quickly cut through the ropes holding her to the mast and unlocked the shackles on her wrists and ankles. She sighed in relief, rubbing the circulation back into her wrists and murmured a word of thanks as Coby put his coat around her trembling shoulders.

They sat across from each other in silence a moment, the candle on the floor between them, illuminating the surroundings in a faint pool of light.

"I have to ask you something though." said Coby, finally breaking the stillness. "To me, it feels like you're two different people. There's Viola, and then there's you. I can't explain it."

Coby tried to think how to voice his thoughts.

"Who are you really?" he said finally. "I don't think I completely understand who you are. And why…"

He paused a moment, looking away.

"Why did you hate me?"

Alvida looked at him for awhile, her expression one of pensive remorse.

"Coby, it wasn't really you that I hated." she said finally. "It was myself. And can you blame me, seeing the way I was? My life was absolute hell, and I took all that self-hatred out on anything and everyone I could. I had nothing personal against you Coby. Really. You were just, an easy target."

She swallowed, avoiding his eyes.

"You were easy to hate."

She was quiet a moment, her expression was one of regret

"I've tried to forgive myself, but I don't know if I've ever be able to completely." she murmured. "I was such a wreck back then. I was always depressed. I'm just sorry you had to be one of the victims of my depression and hate. But you were the only one I chose to carve scars into. It was myself I hated most of all."

Coby understood what she meant.

"When my body was rejuvenated," she continued. "I wanted to start my life over. You know, to try and be a better person. Forget all the pain I'd caused and maybe not hate myself so much. I've tried to forget, but…I still see her. Who I used to be, that is. She's still there. I don't think I'll ever get rid of her completely. I still see her sometimes….in my mirrors."

"That's why I drank so much." she added, sounding bitter and ashamed. "To keep _her_ away."

Comprehension dawned on Coby. She was afraid of herself. What a burden she must been carrying all this time, to be torn between two distinctly different personalities.

Coby could think of nothing to say that could comfort her.

"I'm going to get you out of here." he said finally. "I'm not going to let anything more happen to you."

"Do you realize what you're saying Coby?" said Alvida. "Do you have any idea what kind of situation you'd be putting yourself in? It's more dangerous for you than it is for me. If I get caught, all they'll do is kick me a couple times before tying me back up. But if you get caught helping me, you'll be thrown out of the Marines, court-martialed, end up in prison and ---"

"But I don't care." said Coby. "You don't deserve to be killed here, not after everything that's happened, and what I've done to you."

"The exact same could be said of you." said Alvida. "You don't deserve to lose your career after all _you've_ been through, and all I've done to you."

"You said it yourself." said Coby, looking her straight in the eyes. "By now, we're even with each other."

He stood up.

"This is _my_ choice." he said. "I'm getting you out of here."


	18. The Promise of Rememberance

**I'm back!! (sobs hysterically) Oh finally I'm back!!! I am so sorry for not being able to post. These past three weeks have been nearly absolute hell for me, between schoolwork, tests, rehearsals, performances, relationships, social life, it's just been too much. However, one super special awesome thing did happen this week, as I am sure all One Piece fans are aware of… (Spoiler alert!)…. Alvida's back!!!!! (more hysterical sobs) She hasn't made and appearance since chapter 233, and she finally pops up again! I could have keeled over with happiness! I tell you, when I saw Buggy's flag, I started freaking out!! It totally made my week, considering the amount of crap I've had going on. **

**I feel like I'm being cheap again because I haven't posted in ages and I'm giving you a pretty short chapter in which very little happens. However, due to the fact Christmas Break is coming up (the only thing that's kept me from jumping off a cliff these past weeks) I should be able to finish up posting Deception in the near future.**

**I don't own One Piece. If I did Alvida would have been back in the series long before this and she would have gotten the whole chapter to herself as opposed to only four pages. **

* * *

"_Come hither boy. And if ever shalt thou love, in the sweet pangs of it,  
__Remember me."  
__-Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 4._

"_This time I'm the one escaping and sailing off instead of Coby."_ Alvida thought as Coby lowered a small boat into the water below. _"How ironic." _

"There's enough food in there to last a couple of weeks." Coby was saying. "But there's no log pose, so you'll just have to…"

"Drift?" suggested Alvida.

"Yeah, sorry about that." said Coby.

"I don't mind." she said.

"Oh, and there's one more thing. Come with me, quickly."

Alvida's hand was seized by Coby and he led her across the deck to a small door. His grip wasn't cold and tense as it had been when he had led her out of the tavern. It was gentle.

Coby unlocked the door and stepped into the small room, Alvida following behind him. He set the candle down on the table, where it continued to glow faintly.

"This is where they put all you things." said Coby, crossing to the pile of items and clothes strewn across the floor. Alvida watched as he produced her mace and lifted it onto the table.

"It's yours." said Coby. "I figured you'd want it back."

Alvida stared at her weapon, shining dully in the candlelight.

"_No…please…Alvida sama."_

"_You worthless boy, I don't even know why I let you live."_

"_I'm sorry Alvida-sama! Please…please don't---"_

"_Don't what you little brat? Can't you even speak up for yourself?"_

"_Please…please don't hurt me!"_

"_Don't hurt you? You think all of your pleading and tears are going to stop me? You make me sick Coby."_

"I don't want it." said Alvida finally. "It's caused too much pain for the both of us."

She crossed to the pile of assorted articles the Marines had taken from her room and rummaged through them until she caught a glimpse of something bright red. She held the scarlet dress up in the candlelight.

"I think I would like to keep this." she murmured, pressing it to her chest.

Coby nodded.

"You can keep whatever you want." he said.

"This is all I want." she said. "Coby, would you mind turning away a moment?"

Coby nodded and turned his back on her. She loosed the cord at her waist and slipped out of the mangled and bloodied nightdress, wincing slightly as it stuck to some of the wounds that hadn't quite healed over yet. Then she carefully slipped into the crimson dress.

"I'm ready Coby." she said quietly, as Coby turned back to face her. "All I want is the dress."

He gazed at her, with that same look of awe he had given her on their night together.

"You look…" Coby began.

"Very fancy?" prompted Alvida with a smile.

"No." said Coby. "Like a goddess.

Alvida gently took Coby's hand.

"Whenever I wear it, I shall think of you." she said softly.

"They walked silently back across the deck where the little boat was waiting to be lowered into the water.

Alvida paused at the little vessel, about to climb in, when Coby's hand touched her shoulder.

"Alvida." he said. "I want to come with you."

Alvida stared at him a moment.

"Oh Coby." she said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You know it can't be that way."

"But I…" Coby began, his eyes glistening. "I want to be with you. I…"

He swallowed, and the tears in his eyes spilled over.

"Alvida." he whispered. "I love you."

It was so painful for her to watch Coby cry. She wanted so much to be able to take him with her, to sail the Grand Line, just the two of them, but she knew it was impossible.

"Please…A-Alvida?" Coby sobbed. "I…I love you so much."

"Oh Coby." Alvida murmured, her composure shattering as tears began to stream down her face as well. "I do too."

She reached out her arms to Coby and embraced him. He cried into her shoulder as she snaked her arms around his trembling body and pulled him close.

_"Come hither boy."_ Alvida whispered, tilting Coby's head up to look at her. _"And if ever shalt thou love, in the sweet pangs of it…" _Her voice trailed off, as she swallowed against the lump in her throat. _"Remember me." _she managed to finish.

And slowly, ever so gently, she pressed her lips to Coby's.

It felt like nothing she had ever felt before. It was the sweetest, most passionate thing she had ever experienced, as Coby's eyes widened, and then closed again as he returned the kiss.

"_Remember me." _she whispered as they broke apart.

She felt as though she was being torn in two as she pulled herself from Coby's arms and wrenched her eyes from his. She stepped into the little boat and released the rope holding it to the above the water. It hit the water with a quiet splash. She looked back up at the ship. Coby was leaning over the railing looking down at her.

"I will remember you!" he cried down to her. "I promise!"

"I do too." Alvida murmured back up to him. "Coby, you're going to move on and meet some beautiful woman someday, who will be far better than me, someone who's not scarred by their own hate. You'll fall in love all over again and have a wonderful life. But Coby, you will always have my love, no matter where you are."

"No Alvida!" Coby cried. "I'll always…I'll always love you! I'll never…"

"_Remember_ me." said Alvida, cutting him off. "Don't promise to love me. Don't hang on to the past. But at the very least, remember me. Because I will always remember you."

Alvida hoisted both the oars and stroked them through the water, pushing her away from the ship. Coby stared after her, his face streaked with tears.

"Coby." she called out one last time. "I love you."


	19. Onward

**I hope everyone had a good holiday season! Due to sickness and holiday preparations I was unable to post this chapter, however now that I am feeling considerably better and the holidays are over "Deception" will be finished within before the new year. Enjoy the chapter, as the story is almost done. **

**Buggy gets to say his favorite word in this chapter, (flashy!) and my other favorite character makes his final appearance. **

**I don't own One Piece, and after 19 chapters my creative muse is fed up. **

* * *

"_I desire no more delight,  
Than to be under sail and gone tonight!"  
-The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, Scene 6._

The next morning was a confusing state of affairs, for all accounts…

"Coby! What the hell happened?"

Coby was sprawled haphazardly across the deck in a state of complete disarray.

"Oh god, what happened?" he muttered, sitting up and rubbing his head.

"That's what I want to know!" demanded Admiral Garp. "Where's the hell is that pirate woman? She's gone!"

"Oh no!" said Coby, hoping to god he sounded sincere. "She must have escaped! I had gotten up early in the morning to check on her, but I didn't see her by the mast! So I went looking around, and then I heard something behind me…and then…I…um…"

"You let her catch you off guard?" yelled Garp, hitting Coby and making him stagger back. "What kind of Marine are you? And you let her escape? I ought to demote you for this!"

The rest of the crew was scrambling about the ship trying to figure out how Alvida had managed to escape.

"How the hell did she get free?"

"One of the life boats is gone!"

"She didn't even take her weapon!"

But as Garp continued his rant and 'fatherly' abuse of Coby, Coby caught Helmeppo's eye, and a significant wink was passed between the two of them.

* * *

"Are we going to let those damn Marines hurt our Alvida-sama!"

"NO CAPTAIN!"

"Is everyone here willing to die in order to save Alvida-sama!"

"YES CAPTAIN!"

"Then let's those bastards the hell they deserve for daring to -"

"Captain!"

Buggy turned to see Cabaji running up the gangplank.

"Cabaji! Where the hell have you been?" Buggy demanded. "You're interrupting my flashy speech!"

"This Marine…he gave me this note. Said it was for the captain."

He held up the small scarp of paper.

"He said it was from _her_."

"A Marine? Said it was from _Alvida? _How thick are you Cabaji!" said Buggy. "It's probably some sort of trick! I'll bet that -"

"Captain." said Cabaji. "It's in _her handwriting._"

Buggy grabbed the note impatiently, muttering about why Cabaji would have memorized what Alvida's handwriting looked like.

_I think it is time that I pursue a new career. Please give my regards to acrobat-san and your lion tamer. (He can keep my hairbrush, as I assume he never had much intention of giving it back.) -Alvida _

* * *

And somewhere in the Grand Line, Alvida stood in the little boat, letting the harsh waters of the Grand Line lap against the sides and take her where they would. And as the sun broke over the horizon, she ran her hands along the scarlet dress and murmured aloud to herself…

"I think I shall be an actress."


	20. Epilogue: Ten Years Later

**This is last chapter of Deception. It's more of an epilogue actually. I hope you enjoy my conclusion.**

**

* * *

**

"_If 'tis true that a good wine needs no bush,  
_'_Tis true that a good play needs no epilogue."  
-As You Like It, Epilogue._

**_Ten years later…_**

"Wow. This place hasn't changed a bit!"

He surveyed the quaint village before him that he hadn't seen in well over a decade. But the sights, sounds and smells of the little island seemed as familiar to him as if he had only left yesterday.

"So Coby." said his friend standing beside him. "How does it feel to have left this island a chore boy and returned an admiral?"

Coby laughed good-naturedly.

"It makes me feel old." he said, shaking his head. "_Really_ old."

"Oh come on Coby, you're not old. Don't be an idiot." said Helmeppo, elbowing him in the ribs. "If _you're_ old, then what am I? _Ancient_ or something?"

"Sorry Helmeppo, I didn't mean it that way." said Coby quickly. "It just feels like such a long time since we were last here."

"Back when I was an idiot." laughed Helmeppo. "And you were a loser!"

"I was not a loser!"

"You were too!"

"Yeah, you're right I was."

"Hey, I wonder if your girlfriend still lives around here." said Helmeppo, glancing around at the shops.

"My _girlfriend?_" said Coby, incredulously. "What are you talking about - Oh! You mean Rika! She wasn't my girlfriend you idiot."

"Well she sure wanted to be." said Helmeppo, starting down the street. "Making you rice balls everyday and having your cozy little picnics together?"

"Those rice balls were awful." said Coby, following. "The poor girl just could not tell the difference between sugar and salt. I only ate them to make her happy."

"Well come on. Maybe her mom still owns that tavern down the road."

They continued down the streets, taking in the familiar sights.

"So, you're not upset?" asked Helmeppo, breaking the silence.

"About what?"

"You know…"

"Oh you mean about Luffy?" said Coby. "Nah, not really."

"But you wanted to capture him." said Helmeppo.

Coby laughed.

"Oh well. Let him be the Pirate King. At least I got a decent fight with him before he got away with the One Piece. I knew he'd find it someday. And besides," he added. "You _don't_ betray your friends. I learned that a long time ago."

"You're still hung up over that?" said Helmeppo, incredulously. "That was like, nine, ten years ago."

"I made her a promise.'" said Coby. "And I'm not going to forget it."

They were in front of a large tavern.

"Is this the one?" Helmeppo asked, glancing up at the sign.

"Think so." said Coby, pushing open the door.

A little bell jingled pleasantly as they entered. It was fairly crowded, the patrons talking animatedly with each other and taking little notice of their entrance.

Coby and Helmeppo approached the bar, where a rather busty brunette was serving drinks.

"What can I get you two?" she asked, grinning. "Marine boys, are you?"

"We've come from the Grand Line." said Coby. "We used to be stationed here."

The girl's eyes widened.

"Coby nii-san? Is that you?" she gasped.

Before Coby could respond she had practically jumped over the bar and flung her arms around Coby in a bone-crushing hug.

"Coby nii-san!" she cried. "I've missed you so much! I've been dreaming you'd come back for so long, and now you're here! I've missed you so much! So much!"

"Rika, you're strangling me." gasped Coby.

"Oh! Sorry!"

She released him and Coby massaged his neck gratefully.

"Oh, and what about me?" said Helmeppo, giving Rika a significant look.

"Oh, it's you." she said, glaring.

"And what's that supposed to mean, 'It's you?'" demanded Helmeppo.

"You're that jerk who crushed my rice balls." said Rika, scathingly.

"So you're still working here, Rika?" Coby cut in quickly, before and argument could ensue.

"Yup." said Rika, nodding her head. "I'm still helping my mom."

"You know what Rika." said Helmeppo. "Coby has _really_ missed those special rice balls you used to make him. I bet he'd _love_ some right now."

"Really?" gasped Rika, beaming. "I'll go make some right now!"

She took off into the kitchen.

"I'll get you back for this." said Coby, glaring.

"_When that I was and a little tiny boy,  
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,  
A foolish thing was but a toy,  
For the rain it raineth every day…"_

Coby whirled around suddenly at the sound of music just outside the tavern. A full chorus voices were blended in richly with harmony, accompanied by various instruments, but there was the voice of a soprano that soared high and clear above the rest.

"I know that song." said Coby quietly. "It's from a Shakespearean play."

"In all honesty, that _King_ _Lear_ book wasn't all that bad." said Helmeppo. "But I wish he'd just get to the point and write the story out rather than making it all one gigantic poem."

But Coby wasn't listening.

"I know that song." he repeated. "It's part of _Twelfth Night_."

Coby walked outside the tavern. A troupe of people dressed in colorful and exotic costumes were all singing and dancing as they paraded down the street.

"_But when I came to man's estate,  
With hey, ho, wind and the rain,  
'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate.  
For the rain, wind and the rain, But when I came…"_

The woman's voice was rich and sweet, and with a somewhat familiar tone to it, but Coby couldn't see who the lead singer was, amongst the swirling costumes and ribbons of the harlequins, acrobats and fairies.

"What's going on?" asked Helmeppo, looking perturbed by the scene.

"Oh, them." said Rika, coming out of the tavern with a plate of rice balls. "They're traveling performers. They sail all over the East Blue performing and stuff, and they've made this island their base. They do a lot of old-fashioned stuff, like Shakespeare."

"Yeah, well Coby _loves_ Shakespeare." said Helmeppo, rolling his eyes.

"I never really understood much of it." said Rika, shrugging. "I don't see why he couldn't just write the story out instead of making it one massive poem."

"I love Shakespeare." said Coby, who was staring at the swirling dancers in awe and not paying any attention to Helmeppo or Rika whatsoever.

"Then come to our play!" cried a bright redheaded dancer, cart wheeling over to them, the ribbons dancing in her long hair. "_Twelfth Night!"_ she announced, her painted face beaming. "Shakespeare's famous romantic comedy of -"

"Mistaken identities." said Coby, grinning.

The girl looked impressed and gave him a wink before leaping back to join her fellow actors.

"Like I said!" she called. "Come to our play!"

"I will!" said Coby, eagerly taking off after the parade.

"What about your rice balls?" Rika called after him.

* * *

A ship was their theatre. The figurehead was of a beautiful goddess whose neck spilt into two heads to from the theatrical expressions of comedy and tragedy. Multicolored pennants flew in the breeze, the velvety sails had been pulled down to become curtains.

Coby gave a handful of beli to an elegantly dressed attendant, who then ushered him up the gangplank and onto the ship's deck, where rows of ornately carved wooden chairs served as the audience.

It was hardly a theatre or sophisticated opera house, but the atmosphere could not have been more elegant. There were no programs or stage lights, but the charming ship seemed every bit as beautiful as the Sterling Opera House that he remembered so fondly. He had not seen the play _Twelfth Night_ since then…_with her._

The words she had left him with floated back into his mind.

_"Come hither boy,_ _and_ _if ever shalt thou love, in the sweet pangs of it…Remember me."_

He _had_ remembered her, and always would.

The sail-curtains were swept aside and a tall man dressed in old-fashioned clothes stepped out to address the audience.

"_Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;  
Into a thousand parts divide on man,  
And make imaginary puissance;  
Think when we talk of horses, that you see them  
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;  
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,  
Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times,  
Turning the accomplishment of many years  
Into an hour-glass: for the which supply."_

Coby understood. The quote had nothing to do with _Twelfth Night_. It wasn't even from the play. It was a verse from _Henry V,_ and Coby had heard it recited before several Shakespearean plays and performances. It was a plea from the actors to the audience to suspend their disbelief from reality and embrace the play with imagination. To overlook any of their imperfectionsand imagine what the actors themselves could not provide. If they spoke of horses and battle, then the audience must picture the horses and the battle for the actors. It was a quote commonly recited before many Shakespearean plays.

The man stepped back behind the curtain. Then the velvety sails were fully opened to reveal the Duke Orsino's court. The fairies and harlequins were gone, replaced by the play's characters in full Renaissance garb.

"_If music be the food of love, play on."_ said the actor in the role of the lovesick Duke Orsino. "_Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die."_

He went on about he pined for the love of the Countess Olivia, who would not return his love due to the fact she had chosen to scorn all male company for seven years in light of her brother's recent death.

"_O spirit of love! How quick and fresh art thou!"_ Duke Orsino continued, as the music of the court did nothing to lift his spirits.

Coby could not help but smile. Little did the Duke know that it wasn't the fair Countess Olivia he would end up falling for, but the even fairer…Viola. The shipwrecked maiden also mourning the loss of a twin brother, (who wasn't exactly as dead as she thought) and then chose disguise herself as a man named "Cesario" so she could serve the Duke.

Coby wondered what kind of actress would play Viola. The part was very challenging on so many levels and by far the female lead of the play. It would take a very strong and talented actress to fulfill the role. He wondered if the soprano he heard singing earlier would be the one to perform the part.

The scene ended. The actors made their exits and the curtains were closed to allow the scene to be changed. Moments later, they were opened again to reveal the scene of a beach. The chairs and tables of the Duke's court had been replaced by cutouts of palm trees, rocks and sand dunes. Splintered pieces of wood were strewn in the background, as evidence to a shipwreck. A woman in tattered clothing with long black hair staggered on with her back to the audience, followed by other survivors of the wreckage in similar disarray.

"_What country is this, friends?"_ she asked, sitting down upon a rock.

The moment she had spoken Coby knew she was the woman with the beautiful voice. But her head was bowed in fatigue, and Coby couldn't make out what she looked like.

"_This is Illyria, lady."_ the captain answered.

"_And what should I do in Illyria?"_ she asked aloud, raising her head to face the audience.

Her startlingly green eyes were welled up with tears of grief and fear as she clutched the ragged remains of her dress to her body, her long dark hair falling with haphazard elegance about her face.

Coby's heart stopped. His body seemed numb with shock.

Her green eyes, her dark hair, her flawless figure, her incomparable beauty…

She spoke again.

"_My brother, he is in Elysium. Perchance he is not drowned. What think you, sailors?"_

"_It is perchance that you yourself were saved."_ the captain replied.

"_My poor brother!"_ she wept into her hands. _"And so perchance may he be."_

He knew her voice. How had he not recognized it before?

He felt frozen and overwhelmed. It seemed impossible. But yet here she was, standing before him. He wanted to leap from his seat and throw himself at her. Embrace her, feel her touch, her warmth, her lips…that kiss he had never forgotten. He wanted to scream to her, "_It's me! Coby! Alvida! I've remembered you!"_

But he didn't. With every ounce of determination he could muster, he took a deep breath and quelled his frantic and shocked emotions.

He would wait.

He would enjoy the show.

* * *

"Sir, could I possibly arrange a visit with one of the performers?"

"Of course! We encourage our patrons to get to know the actors." the director answered, whom Coby had immediately sought out after the play. "Now who is it that you…_fancy_?" he added with a wink, eyes the bouquet of red and white carnations Coby cradled in his arms.

"T-The woman who played Viola." Coby said quickly, trying not to stammer.

"Ah yes." said the director. "She's an odd one, she is. But she's the most talented woman I've ever seen. She's a brilliant actress, pure, natural talent for drama. And she's got a beautiful voice on top of that. And of course it helps that she's simply stunning."

"What's her name?" asked Coby, tentatively.

"Viola. I know, it's strange, isn't it?" said the director, upon noticing Coby's stunned look. "Her name's Viola, and she just played the part of Viola. Funny little coincidence. Well, it's not like she didn't deserve the prestigious role." the director continued, obviously keen on telling Coby about his star actress. "We just picked her up out of nowhere, about 10 years ago. Our troupe was formed in the Grand Line, but we were a pretty small number back then. Not much of a demand for traveling performers and Shakespeare in the Grand Line, what with all the piracy. So we decided we'd go to the East Blue and base our productions there. Well, on our voyage to the East Blue, we just found her, drifting along in this tiny little boat and wearing this bright red dress. She'd obviously been out at sea for weeks, we she was half-dead from exposure and starvation, and it was a miracle her boat hadn't been destroyed. Well anyway, once she found out we were a theatre troupe she wanted to join up with us immediately. And let me tell you, letting her join our troupe was probably the best choice I've ever made as a director. Of course, at first she was more than happy to play minimal and supporting parts, but it soon became clear she had incredible talent and was capable of far more challenging roles. She can play practically any part! She's been Lady Macbeth, Titania, Ophelia, Juliet, Katherina, and she was surprisingly good as Tamora, Queen of the Goths." (Coby chuckled at this.) "And so naturally when we chose to do _Twelfth Night_ we decided she should be Viola."

"Well, I won't keep you." he said, ending his narrative. "Her room is just down those far stairs and to the right."

With a word of thanks, Coby began his descent down the stairs. His hears was throbbing in his chest. What if he was wrong?

No. That was impossible. He knew who she was.

He stood in front of the door. Without bothering to knock, he pushed it open with trembling hands.

Enormous bouquets and pots of flowers adorned the room leaving a pleasant scent in the air. They had no doubt given by other admirers. A rack of various costumes hung in a corner, but what struck Coby as odd was that there were no mirrors in the room.

She was reclining on a heavily cushioned couch with her back to him, murmuring lines aloud to herself from a script she was holding. She hadn't noticed his entrance.

Her hair was long and thick again, and Coby could see that she was wearing a beautiful scarlet dress, though now faded and slightly worn from age.

He moved closer until he was just behind the couch where she lay. She still hadn't noticed him.

"_Notable pirate." _he said quietly. "_Thou saltwater thief. What foolish boldness brought thee to their mercies, whom thou in terms so bloody and so dear, hast made thine enemies?"_

He paused. Her hand dropped the script and her body seemed to freeze. But she did not turn around.

"_Alvida."_

Her name came out barely a whisper. And slowly, she turned to face him. Her eyes were wide as she looked at him, and Coby knew had made no mistake.

"Coby?"

**The End**

* * *

**I want to thank everyone who has read "Deception." I cannot say how much it means to me that you have followed a story with such an unorthodox couple from beginning to end. Whether you loved it, hated it, or thought it was just plain stupid doesn't matter, simply the fact that you were willing to read this story means so much to me. (I mean, it's AlvidaxCoby. What kind of pairing is that?)**

**This story could not have been completed without the help of many of my friends. I owe the concept itself to my best friend and fellow author, Koigokoro-love, who one day a little over a year ago called me up and asked me: "Why are there no pairings with Alvida and Coby on fanfiction. net ?"**

**To which I answered: "Think about it."**

**And then there was Kierstavio...who watched me struggle to write a little AlxCo oneshot during play practice, and then we had a fire drill...but in the midst of that fire drill I was struck with the inspiration to write a full-out fic themed around Shakespeare and mistaken identities. And as we stood outside in the freezing cold during the fire drill, there was no flat surface to put my notebook on to write, so Kierstavio let me prop my notebook against her back so I could write out the plot points that become 'Deception." **

**Once again, I thank everyone who has supported me throughout this story be reading it. Please, let me know what you thought of it in light of the final chapter. Thank you once again. **


End file.
